Adrinette April 2019
by lillykleaf
Summary: I thought I'd give Adrinette April a try and here is where I will store what will hopefully end up being a months worth of loosely related tid-bits inspired by the writing prompts.
1. Just Friends

**I'm not abandoning my other stuff, but I feel like I've gotten into a bit of a writing funk and thought this could help me get out of it.**

**To try and keep up with posting every day I'm going to forego having my usual people help me edit so this might be a bit rougher than my other stuff.**

**I might change the title later, but I couldn't think of anything else for now and wanted to get this up by the deadline.**

* * *

Marinette could do this! She'd practiced, she was wearing her lucky charm, and Tikki had cast a confidence spell (she was 70% that was just a placebo, but she wasn't going to question that now). She could do this. She could confess to Adrien Freakin' Agreste!

The lunch bell rang and she reached out to grab Adrien's arm before he could leave. "Um A-Adrien, would you like lunch have with me?"

He blinked for a minute as he unscrambled her words, but she dare not try again for fear of further mishap. He flashed that wide, genuine smile once he understood and her heart melted a little more. "I'd love to have lunch with you! Will Nino and Alya be joining us?"

Alya, bless her, jumped in before Nino could. "Nope, Nino promised he'd take me out on a date for lunch today, so I guess it's just you two kiddos."

Nino raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend. "I did? Ow! I mean, yeah, I did. Sorry dude, we can make it the four of us next time.

As a point to her confidence, Adrien didn't look any sadder at the prospect of it being just the two of them. He turned back to Marinette, still as sunshine-y as ever. "Looks like it's just the two of us then. Is that okay with you, Marinette?"

That had been her intended plan all along, but she wasn't about to tell him that. Instead, she just nodded, trying to save her coherent words for when she confessed later.

Alya distracted Chloe by asking if she had any interest in doing an interview on Queen Bee's relationship with Ladybug, leaving Marinette and Adrien to leave unharassed for the short journey across the street to her home.

Less lucky when they actually got to her home and her parents saw just who Marinette had brought home for lunch.

"Hello Maman. Hello Papa. This is Adrien, you met him before. We'll be upstairs for lunch, I know you're busy so don't bother coming up!"

Before either of her parents could say anything to potentially embarrass her, she grabbed Adrien by his school bag and hauled him in back and up the stairs. Adrien dawdled at the entryway, looking back downstairs.

"If your parents are busy, I can always come back another time."

She waved her hands, "No, no. It's fine. You're in no one's way. Lunch is already ready."

Adrien came forward and took a tentative seat at the dining room table, "Well if you're sure."

Marinette beamed, "Absolutely. It's nothing fancy though. I only made sandwiches."

"With bakers for parents, I'm sure anything you make must be delicious."

She laughed and went to the kitchen to pull out the tupperware containers, setting them on the table before taking the seat next to the love of her life. "I've got three options for you: peanut butter and strawberry jelly, banana and honey, or camembert and ham."

Adrien pulled a face. "Camembert?"

She nodded. I noticed that you usually keep some in your bag and figured you really liked it." Her smile faltered. "Was I wrong?"

Adrien's smile appeared tight and forced. "No, I love the stuff. Why else would I walk around with a bag full of stinky cheese?"

Marinette shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. An offering to the gods?"

Adrien's face went white as a sheet. "What? No tiny gods here. Certainly not. Definitely non of the destructive type especially."

Marinette laughed. "I should hope not. My god would cast them out."

Adrien's jaw dropped. "You can do that?"

She pointed to a small plaque hanging on the wall depicting a man and a woman drawn in classical Chinese style. "Meet Zoa Jun. The kitchen god. My maman is Tao and insisted we have one put up."

He leaned back in his chair and laughed weakly. "Nice to meet you Zao Jun. Please don't cast out any gods of mine, unlucky or otherwise."

While pleasant, this was not the way she had planned on this conversation going and if she was ever going to get to those three kids and a hamster, she would first have to become his girlfriend.

"I've got something to say," Marinette said while at the same time Adrien blurted, "I've got a question for you."

"What?" they said at the same time.

"You go," they said, in sync once more.

"No, you."

Adrien raised his hand. "I'll go, I think I know what you're about to say anyway."

Marinette blinked, owl-eyed. "You do?"

"Yeah, you were going to tell me that Nino put you up to this, weren't you?"

"Why would you think that?" Marinette asked, mystified despite her emotional sucker punch to the gut that Adrien would think she'd only hang out with him if forced.

Adrien's face turned a shade of red that would look stunning as an evening dress, but as a skin color, was rather alarming. "Nothing. Never mind. What were you going to say?"

Her instincts, now far more honed since becoming Ladybug, told her this was important. "What I have to say can wait. Why do you think Nino told me to ask you to lunch?"

"I- uh- might have briefly mentioned to him recently that I wished you and I could be better friends, since I thought you were just hanging out with me because our best friends are dating."

"You WHAT?! Why on earth would you think that?"

Adrien jumped at her outbreak and leaned back in his chair. "I just- well- it feels like most of the time we hang out that someone is setting us up and I thought Nino and Alya were trying to force you to get along with me to make it easier to hang out."

Marinette struggled to keep her face emotionless. "You thought Nino and Alya were forcing me to hang out with you?"

"Well, forced is the wrong word," Adrien said, backtracking immediately, "but I know you would do anything for Alya and if she mentioned it was something you wanted, you would probably do everything in your power to give it to her."

Marinette held up a hand. "Wait here."

She stood up and left the room, doing her very best not to scream in frustration the entire way. Halfway up the steps to her room Tikki popped up beside her shoulder. "Are you doing okay?"

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Yeah, I just realized that before I can be Adrien's girlfriend, I need to start with just being a better friend."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Marinette lifted her bedroom trapdoor and scrambled inside, heading directly for what she was looking for and picking it up. "I'm going to start by clearing up a misunderstanding."

Tikki eyed the object in her chosen's hands and nodded. "A wise choice." Then she flew back into the purse at Marinette's hip where she'd been hiding the whole time.

Marinette made her way back downstairs. Adrien was still sitting in the chair where she'd left him and she noted that in the time she'd been gone, he'd eaten all the camembert and ham sandwiches. When she entered he turned to her and eyed the object in her hands curiously.

"What is that?"

She approached and held it out for his inspection, making sure the A. A. inscription was clearly visible. "You don't recognize it?"

His eyes widened and he looked from her to it and back again. "My umbrella! But. . . why did you keep it?"

"Because," she said sternly, "It's an important memory of when I made a very dear friend." She set the umbrella down on the table and held out her now empty hand to him. "But now I realize that I haven't done a very good job of showing him just how important of a friend he is, so I'd like to start over starting right now. Can we try the friendship thing again and this time I try not to be a total ditz?"

Adrien stared speechlessly at her hand and she worried that she was too little too late, but then he grabbed her hand in both of his. "I'm sorry too. I should have talked to you when I thought something was up. Clean slate?"

"Clean slate," she agreed and they shook on it.

The rest of lunch went by casually as they talked about the ridiculous antics that their friends (mostly Alya) got up. When they were done, they walked back to school where Alya was waiting for her at the front door and promptly whisked her away for an interrogation.

"Give me the deets, girl! How'd it go?"

"A lot better than expected," Marinette admitted.

Alya's eyes blew wide, made double so by her glasses. "No way! You actually told him? Did my bff finally get herself a boyfriend?!"

She shook her head, "Nope. Just friends." She paused for a moment before adding, "but I think it's better this way. I need to be a better friend to Adrien before I can even think of being his girlfriend."

Alya pretended to wipe away a tear. "Look at my baby girl, all grown up. You wouldn't even know that just last week she snuck into the boy's locker room in a failed attempt to give Adrien a love letter."

Marinette groaned and thumped her head on Alya's shoulder. "Not my best plan. Please don't remind me."

Alya gave her a pat on the head as she laughed. "Still though, I'm not sure if that makes what I did a good thing or a bad thing."

Marinette's head popped up. "And just what did you do?"

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**Hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think!**


	2. Seat Buddies

**Not as long as last time, but at least I got something up.**

* * *

Now that he thought about it, Adrien was pretty sure that this was more Nino's style. More accurately, this was Alya's style. He eyed the empty seat next to Marinette and then one seat up where Alya and Nino were sitting so close you could probably fit a third person on that bench. A small part of him was tempted to go do that, just to mess with their plans, but Adrien didn't want to hurt Marinette's feelings. Especially not right after she'd just reaffirmed that she really didn't hate him. Which was good to know.

So while his friends were being nosy, passive-aggressive little crappers, he wasn't going to pass up this chance to give their do-over a try.

Marinette looked up at him, chagrined. "I swear, I did not tell them to do this."

"I believe you. To be honest, I'm surprised that the two love-birds didn't pull this sooner."

"Well I guess we're stuck together," Marinette said, smiling to let him know that she wasn't actually upset by the turn of events.

He laughed and sat down beside her. "Seat buddies to the bitter end."

"Or at least until Madam Mendelieve yells at them for not paying attention and we get switched back," Marinette added, shooting a smirk back to her friends. They were oblivious to her comment, which proved Marinette's point. "Guess I'll have to savor what little time we have together, seat buddy."

Adrien liked this. There was still a hint of awkward between them, but he could feel it disappearing. The easy rapport they were starting to develop was reminding him of another blue-eyed, sharp-tongued beauty. He shook his head and turned to face the front as their teacher walked in. One, single coincidence did not mean anything.

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**Hope you liked it! Have a nice day!**


	3. Embarrassing

**I was so proud of myself for writing three days in a row that I almost forgot to post this!**

**Sorry!**

**Also I'm upping the rating to T because of some inappropriate references at the end. Nothing too bad, but I'd rather be cautious.**

* * *

Marinette was dying. DYING! She didn't know if she would ever look Adrien in the eye again, but she had to or he'd think she'd rescinded her friendship again. Not that she'd ever actually taken it away in the first place. It's just that his stupid, beautiful, perfect face made her get tongue-tied sometimes.

And now it was about to get a million times worse now that she'd seen the rest of his stupid, beautiful, perfect body!

"Hey, Marinette, what's that?"

She shrieked and dropped the magazine she was looking at and the book she was hiding it behind. It hit the table with a slap, staying open at the exact same page she'd just been gaping at. She looked up to see that it had in fact been Adrien who had called out to her and not her fantasies warping Alya's voice. Fate wasn't that nice to her. It was also Adrien who was now looking down at her reading material where he was front and center of a two-page spread in nothing but a swimsuit.

His face turned pink. "Oh, so you saw it."

She picked up the magazine with as much nonchalance as her red-faced self could muster. "Even if I didn't get the magazine, I'm pretty sure I would have still seen the photo. You're kind of breaking the internet right now."

Adrien groaned and slumped into his seat, flopping like a Disney princess. "This is so embarrassing!"

She gave his head a few tentative pats proud that her fangirl self didn't immediately start gushing over the softness thereof (she would be sure to give Alya a full two hour dissertation on it later though). "I assure you that you are not breaking the internet because you in any way look bad."

He harrumphed into the desk. "Not. Helping."

Well sugar coating didn't work. Time for honest overshare with heaving doses of sarcasm to mask true feelings. "So most of Paris has pictures of you lounging around in what is basically glorified boxers. It could always be worse."

He gave a kicked puppy whine. "What could possibly be worse that this?"

"You could be Chat Noir," she offered.

He spluttered and sat up. "Excuse me, how is that worse?"

"You in a swim, while I suppose one might say is objectively very attractive to the degree where one might hypothetically pin it up on their wall to drool over it, is still very vanilla compared to Chat Noir on any given day."

"How?!"

"Chat Noir wears skin tight, black leather and gets around everywhere by basically being a pole dancer. I have it on good authority from Alya that there are entire kink groups out there dedicated to him. She runs the Ladyblog, she would know."

His face was gob smacked. "I thought you said Chat Noir was a cool guy?"

Marinette shrugged. "Making my friend feel better takes precedence over whatever my feelings on the superhero may be."

"You know, I think it would be less embarrassing for you to just lie and tell me you never saw the picture than tell me about Chat Noir's secret BDSM fan club."

Marinette laughed. Watching Adrien's reaction made her want to tell Chat Noir next time she saw him to see what he'd do. She wondered if it'd be half as entertaining.


	4. Hide Me

**And so the crack continues**

* * *

Adrien ran, hard and fast, thanking his one lucky star that he had the added secret benefit of being Chat Noir so he could be just a little bit fast than oh, say- for instance- your average rabid fan. Still. He couldn't keep running forever and new members were joining the crowd to replace the ones who'd run out of steam. His eyes darted around desperately, looking for something- anything- that could help get him out of his current situation.

A splotch of blue and pink caught his eye and he went for it. "Marinette!"

She jumped and turned, her mouth dropping open into an "O" of surprise as she took in him and the approaching horde.

"Help! Hide me!"

Her eyes switched from shocked to determined, and she snatched his hand up as he approached. He took a moment to admire that she was actually able to keep up with him before she yanked him off his course with a sharp right turn before making a beeline for the staircase. Her free hand grabbed a trash can near the handrail and threw it across the steps as they passed, upending the contents. They took another sharp turn before she darted for a nondescript door next to some lockers and threw both of themselves inside before any of his chasers could get up to their floor.

She slammed the door shut hard enough to rattle it and then leaned against it while Adrien slumped to the floor and placed his head between his knees as he took gasping breaths.

"Thanks for that," Adrien said once he'd managed to calm his breathing. He looked around, seeing that she'd dragged him into a small storage closet with a small window about seven feet up.

"Anytime," Marinette panted back, finally sliding down the door to join him on the floor.

They went quiet then, hearing his pursuers reach the top of the stairs and shout at each other about which way he must have gone. They waited until all the footsteps had stopped running past before Adrien released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Why this cupboard?" Adrien asked.

Marinette gave a small start. "What?"

"You ran like you knew where you were going."

"Oh, um, I come here during Akuma attacks sometimes, no one's ever joined me in here, so I figured it would be safe."

Adrien grinned. "So you're sharing your secret club house with me then?"

"More like a panic room," Marinette said with a chuckle before pulling out her phone.

"Well I'm honored you would share your panic room with me."

She gave a hum of acknowledgement before slipping her phone back into her pocket. "I texted Alya to let me know when it's all clear so we'll know when we can get out. Don't want to risk opening the door to check and playing round two when you get spotted."

"Smart," Adrien said. She panic-planned like Ladybug- foreseeing the possible negative outcomes and preparing ahead of time. He was more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy, but he figured that's what made him such a perfect match since he was always so willing to go with her barely explained plans. Like how he'd just trusted that Marinette had a plan when she took his hand. It had felt very similar to him.

"So, why were you walking to school this morning? Normally your bodyguard drops you off in front. I thought everyone would be extra careful after all the hype your latest photoshoot had been getting."

He winced. "My limo got a flat tire. I stepped out of the car to suggest I just walk to school since we were only a block away when someone screamed my name and then an insta-mob formed. My bodyguard tried to hold them back, but he got tackled by a couple people. So I ran. Then I ran into you and you know the rest."

He expected her to laugh at the ridiculousness of it, but was surprised when she frowned instead. "I'm sorry, Adrien. That's really rough."

"I'd say overall the pros outweigh the cons." He sighed and let his head drop back, staring up at the ceiling. "At least that's what I have to keep telling myself on days like today."

There was a shuffling noise and he brought his head forward to see Marinette kneeling in front of him with her arms out stretched.

"Um, c-can hug I you?"

He smiled, it'd been a couple days since he'd last heard her stutter. He was surprised to find that he had kind of missed it. "Actually, yeah. A hug would be great right about now."

He leaned in and felt her wrap her arms around him. They fit together nicely and he soaked up the much-needed affection and warmth. Like a cat that had found the perfect sun spot, he just wanted to curl up in her lap and purr. The thought shocked him and he pulled back.

"Uh, so has Alya said anything yet?"

Marinette pulled out her phone. "Apparently Chloe is shriek- sorry, telling- everyone that she'll have her daddy send the French foreign legion if they don't leave now and Nino somehow got hold of a water hose and is shooting them with it. The rest of the class is rallying behind them and they're all shouting at them to get out.

He felt his eyes pinprick as tears started to well. To think that so many people cared. "I never thought I'd see the day where Nino and Chloe were working together."

Marinette laughed. "Me neither, but you're a pretty great guy, Adrien. I'm not surprised that you're what brought them together."

Well now he went from almost crying to certified hot mess. Marinette didn't seem to realize just how much he was struggling to keep it together though as she was looking at her phone again. Alya says the people are leaving. We should be safe to leave now."

He wanted to tell her to wait and that he wanted to hide a little longer, but then he'd have to explain why and he wasn't sure if he even could.

Marinette grabbed the handle and turned it. And turned and turned and turned. The doorknob went in a full circle three times but still didn't open. She gave it a shake, but the door remained closed. Finally, she stepped back and delivered a kick strong enough strong enough to make the doorframe shake.

She turned back to Adrien, eyes now wide with panic. "I think I broke the doorknob when I slammed the door."

Instead of panicking with her, Adrien threw back his head and laughed. Marinette was now calling Alya to let her know where they were and what had happened, but Adrien just kept laughing, tears finally falling freely as he did.

Guess he got his wish to hide a little longer after all.


	5. Clumsy

**Adrien is the drama-iest, drama llama and we all love him for it.**

* * *

Ever since the Closet Incident ™ Adrien had developed a new habit. It was extremely noticeable and extremely embarrassing. Nino was hazing him about it nonstop, but no matter how much he denied it, Nino never believed that it wasn't what he thought it was. He didn't believe him when he said that he didn't have a crush on Marinette. He didn't! His heart belonged to Ladybug.

Ladybug was a torch—brilliant, burning bright, and guiding the way. His job was to protect and, while he could approach, to get too close was to get burned. Marinette was different. Marinette was the sun, radiating light and warmth wherever she went. Beautiful and alluring, but absolutely unreachable. The sun belonged to everyone; he couldn't take that.

But he couldn't properly articulate this to Nino since he couldn't tell his friend that he was Chat Noir and that was why the torch metaphor worked and they weren't both suns. They didn't live on Tatooine. There was only one sun, and right now she was running past him to catch up to Alya.

His new habit kicked in and he was so engrossed in watching her run past, that his own feet were forgotten. He immediately tripped on presumably nothing and would have fallen flat on his face if Nino hadn't grabbed him by his bag strap and hoisted him back upright.

"Thanks man," Adrien said sheepishly, rubbing the back of neck.

Nino rolled his eyes. "Seriously, dude, just go tell her that you like her. You're so into her that you've become more clumsy than she is."

Adrien gave an exasperated sigh. "I'm telling you that it's not like that."

"Yeah, dude, sure. Whatever." Nino said, also leaving him behind to go catch up with his girlfriend.

There really was no point arguing with him, because Nino just didn't get it. How could you not be a little clumsy stumbling into the sunlight for the first time?


	6. Secrets

**Thank you so much for your kind reviews, favs, and follows. They mean a lot.**

* * *

It had started simply. Marinette was complaining about how she just didn't understand physics when seat buddy, Adrien 'Perfect' Agreste, had turned to her and said, "I could tutor you if you like."

Thus they were now sitting up in her room while she tried to understand the finer points of physics. It was both easier and worse with him around. Easier because he was actually a pretty decent teacher. Harder because he kept leaning in close and touching her should as he was explaining things to her. It was incredibly distracting. Still, probably one of the best Fridays she'd had in a long time. Even if it was studying. Still though, some of his methods for memorizing terms gave her Chat PTSD.

"What's a photon again?" she asked.

"Let me try and explain it as a joke. That's what helps me remember terms. Alright, so a photon checks into a hotel. The bellhop says, 'Can I take your luggage?' and the photon replies, 'No thanks, I'm traveling light'."

Marinette groaned and flopped into the desk. "I don't get the joke."

Adrien, who was still chuckling at his own joke, began to explain, "It's because photons are traveling light particles. The definition _is_ in the joke."

"Puns," she moaned. "Why did it have to be puns!"

A knock at her trap door signified her mother's entrance. "Hate to interrupt, but I just wanted to remind you that dinner will be soon and afterwards, Marinette, you promised to help in the backery."

"Yes. Maman," Marinette called, still face down on the desk.

"We'll wrap things up soon, Ma'am," Adrien assured her.

"Sabine," she reminded him gently.

"Yes. Ma'am."

She shook her head at his ingrained politeness and returned to the lower floor.

"Well, I guess we better start wrapping up then," Marinette said ruefully.

Adrien nodded. "We were about done anyway. I think it's really cool that you can bake, you should teach me some time."

She shifted nervous in her seat, a small swelling of guilt building in her chest. "Can I tell you a secret?"

His head tilted to the side and an eager curiosity filled his eyes. "I love secrets!"

"I can't actually bake."

"WHAT?" Adrien shouted.

"I know. I know. I live in a literal bakery with two bakers for parents and I can't bake." Her hands raised to cover her face as it burned.

"But your mom just asked you to help her after dinner," Adrien said, still flabbergasted.

"I frost cupcakes and put filling in macaroons and crème puffs. The artsy, finishing touches sort of thing. Baking is chemistry and I just don't get chemistry," she explained.

"I bet you could get it with practice. Look at how far you've come with physics and you said that was your worst topic," Adrien said gently. She could feel him trying to coax her out from behind her hands.

She let her fingers slip a little so she could look at him. "It's not like I have much of a reason to try. My parents are already way better than me and while I'm sure they would try to help me if I asked. I know they they're already way too busy with their current orders."

"I could ask my chef at home if he has any spare time. We could learn together."

"What?!" she squeaked, finally dropping her hands in shock.

"I bet I could get my father to agree to it if I told him it was a practical application study of chemistry."

She stared at him, gob-smacked. Was he serious?! "But we're not even taking chemistry this year!"

"But we will be next year and if we start learning it ahead of time, we'll understand more of it when we study it in class the second time."

She shook her head at him. He really was serious. "Adrien Agreste, I have discovered your secret too!"

His amusement immediately dropped into shifty panic. "W-what? What secret? No secrets here. No siree!"

"Yes there is!" Marinette declared, pointing an accusatory finger at him, "Aside from being pun-loving trash, you're also an absolute, total nerd!"

He relaxed in his chair, laughing weakly. "Oh no, you found me out. You've ruined my model perfect image."

"Completely and absolutely ruined it," she said with a nod.

He then drooped in his chair and she worried she may have gone a bit too far.

"Hey, I like pun-trash, nerdy Adrien."

"Really?" His eyes held such a fragile hope she wanted to cry.

"Really, really. Even if he does _bake_ me crazy sometimes."

His mouth dropped open in such a comical "O" of surprise, all sadness forgotten. "Did you just-"

"Yes, I did. That was a medicinal pun because you looked sad. They are for special occasions only and don't expect it often."

"Marinette! Dinner! Adrien, dear, your driver just pulled up," Her mother called, sing-song from beneath the trapdoor.

"I guess that's my cue to go. I'll talk to my chef and my father and let you know what they say," Adrien said, gathering his things into his bag.

"Alright. In the meantime, I'll see you at school on Monday."

"Sounds like a plan, and Marinette?"

She paused in her cleaning to look him in the eye. "Yes?"

"Thanks for sharing your secret with me."

She smiled, glad they were finally getting this friendship thing right. "Thanks for sharing yours, even if it was by accident."

He chuckled, heading for the stairs. "I'll have to be careful around you or you'll find out all my secrets."

She laughed with him. "Well as your friend, I promise that even if I do, I will keep all of them for you."

He gave her one last smile before he disappeared downstairs. "And I'll do the same."

* * *

**A secret of mine is that I can't make macaroons. I've been trying to learn for almost 3 years now and I can't figure the darn things out!**


	7. Sweet Tooth

**In which Adrien is _even more_ cheesy. Who knew that was possible!?**

**Just realized I've been forgetting a very important thing to say-**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Adrien had always had a sharp nose. Since becoming Chat Noir, it'd only gotten better. Which was why Adrien knew that Nino had at least three cherry drop candies in his bag and Adrien wanted at least one of them. His cooking lessons- ahem "practical application of chemistry study" - with Marinette had been temporarily postponed for at least a week because there was a big test coming up and he felt the sugar withdrawals coming on.

"Hey, man, what you got in the bag?"

Nino rolled his eyes while Alya laughed.

"Dude, what are you? Some kind of bloodhound?" Nino grumbled as he fished out one of the cherry flavored hard candies and held it out to his friend.

_Excuse you, I am a cat_. Not that he could actually say this out loud to Nino, secret identities and all that.

His pursuit of sugar was interrupted by Marinette's hand swatting him back. "Down! You're acting like a feral cat that hasn't been fed in days!"

Well, at least _somebody_ got him. "No fair, Mari! I asked nicely."

"No, you practically drooled on his bag to get them," she scolded.

"It's been forever since I had a sugar," he moaned.

She put her hands on her hips, and Adrien knew he was in for a lecture then. "That doesn't mean you can take those from Nino, those are for his cough."

The other two members of the group started and turned back to their hatted friend.

"Is that true, Babe. _Are_ you getting a cold?" Alya asked.

Nino rubbed the back of his neck. "I wasn't sure if I was or wasn't and I didn't want to complain if it was nothing, but yeah, I've had a sore throat for the last two days."

Alya gave him a light chop to the head. "You should have said something! I'd have brought you some of my mom's amazing soup. Scratch that. I _am_ bringing you some tomorrow."

Nino leaned in to nuzzle his girlfriend. "You're the best, babe!"

Adrien, on the other hand, now felt awful. His hand just came up of its own accord and began to rub and the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, man, I didn't even notice you weren't feeling well."

Nino waved a hand at him to dispel his worries. "All good, dude. It's not like I said anything."

"Apparently Marinette was the only one who noticed. That makes me feel like a terrible girlfriend," Alya whined.

"I'm sorry?" Marinette said, like she was unsure if she was in trouble or not.

"Well, Nette has known be longer than both of you. Neither of you is a bad friend or girlfriend. Plus, she's got detective skills that could rival Ladybug."

"N-n-n-no I don't, no one could be as good as Ladybug."

While Adrien was generally the first person to defend his lady as the greatest of them all. The more he came to know Marinette, the harder it was to say that Ladybug was greater than she. Both were spicy, but it was like asking if he wanted hot wings or cookies. There wasn't a comparison because they were two different things for different times! Sweet and hot were for different things. Speaking of which, he still had a strong hankering for something sweet. His eyes turned mournfully back to Nino's cherry candies. Those were definitely off limits now, so where was he supposed to get his sweets from?! He supposed he could just wait until lunch and stop by the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

Marinette caught her stare and rolled her eyes. "Geeze, you have such a sweet tooth. Here. I was going to share them during lunch, but you can have your portion now."

She reached into her bag, pulled out a small container, and held it out to him. He gasped. "Have you been practicing without me?"

This time her smile was all sass, once again bringing spicy to her sweet. "I have. Chocolate chip. Wanna see how far ahead of you I've gotten?"

He took the container and tore into it. Dang these were good! Logic told him that they were a little over cooked and her butter had been too hot, melting the chocolate chips so they made the whole cookie darker than it were supposed to be. Even so, it was a little piece of heaven in his mouth.

A voice in his head, that sounded oddly like Plagg, quietly asked him if it was the sweet itself or the sweet who had given it to him that was satisfying his sweet tooth?


	8. A Favor Only You Can Do

**I'm surprised at how many of these are ending up from Adrien's perspective. Hope you enjoy!**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug**

* * *

"Do you think she'd like this necklace?" Adrien asked, staring at the computer screen thoughtfully.

"Eh, not as good as cheese," Plagg said from his spot on the bed.

"This one is pretty cute, and it has a five-star rating."

"Isn't a necklace kind of boyfriend-y? I thought you two were 'just friends'?" Plagg said, not even bothering to turn and look at the pink sapphire necklace.

"What about earrings then?"

"No," Plagg said flatly.

Adrien scowled. "And why not?"

"Trust me on this one. You don't want to buy her earrings."

Adrien twirled in his chair. "Why don't you give me some actual advice then rather than just saying no to everything I say?"

"Can't you ask Nino? Or what about Alya? She's always hanging out with Marinette," Plagg whined.

"They wouldn't get why I was doing this. I asked Alya and she said I should take Marinette on a date for her birthday. A date! Please, Plagg, this is a favor that only you can do!"

Adrien thought he heard Plagg mutter, "Tikki give me strength." Before he cleared his throat and rose to fly over to Adrien. "Alright, I demand two wheels of cheese in exchange for my help here."

"Deal," Adrien agree immediately. Honestly, he'd been prepared to go up to five wheels of cheese to get the greedy god to help him.

Plagg nodded. "Okay, so earrings are out of the question and necklaces are to girlfriend-y. I think we need to widen out search a bit. Type in 'shiny things'."

Adrien raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"You want my advice, you do what I say. Do it."

Dubiously, Adrien typed it into the search bar and hit enter.

"Good job. Now start scrolling, slowly."

"So bossy," Adrien muttered, but still did as Plagg said.

"Aaaaaaand stop!" Adrien stopped scrolling and Plagg flew up to hover in front of the screen, paw pointing to one item in particular. "That. Get her that."

Adrien stared at Plagg's choice with uncertainty. He had to admit that he also like the choice. It wasn't too intimate, but still something which he thought was of high enough quality to be worthy of his dear friend. He doubted anyone else would think to get anything like it for her. Still, he wasn't sure if it was actually Marinette's style. "You sure."

"Ohhh yeah," Plagg said with a vigorous nod. "Trust me on this, I've been around for a millennia and I know perfect when I see it. This is almost perfect."

"Almost?"

"Yeah," Plagg said firmly, "Do me a favor, and see if it comes in black."

* * *

**Now what could have been Plagg's choice? Any guesses?**


	9. Happy Birthday

**Quite a few guesses about what Adrien bought for Marinette. None of you were right, but I'd say the closest was tiara. Shall we see what he really did get her?**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

"Happy birthday, Marinette!" Her friends cheered as she approached.

She blushed happily. "Thanks guys."

A round of hugs from just about every member of the class was had. Even a few from outside the class, like Mark, had come to wish her happy birthday. She noted Adrien standing towards the back of the crowd, shifting nervously. What was up with that about?

"You're all coming to my party tonight, right?" Marinette asked.

The group chorused their affirmative, except Adrien, who slowly raised his hand, head lowered in shame.

Marintette's gut twisted. "Yes, Adrien?"

"Um, actually, I have a fencing tournament coming up, so I've got extra practice to attend tonight. I'm sorry but I won't be able to make it."

She fought to hide her disappointment, but still felt her shoulders droop even as she kept her smile in place. "Well, it can't be helped then. I'll be sure to tell Maman and Papa to set aside a piece of cake for you."

"Thanks Mari." There was an awkward silence as everyone watched the exchange and then he ducked his head and immediately began rummaging through his bag. "I almost forgot. I brought your present to school with me since I won't be able to make it to tonight."

He held out a slim, square box, which she took with trembling hands. It looked like it could hold a necklace, and knowing Adrien, there was a high chance that it was heinously expensive. Everyone else crowded in to watch her open it and Alya whipped out her phone to record Marinette's reaction.

Slowly she lifted the lid to reveal its contents and gasped.

"Do you like it?" he asked anxiously.

"It's gorgeous!" she assured him.

"Hold it up to the light. It gets cooler," Adrien said, now looking excited at her approval.

She carefully lifted the cat-eared headband up for all to see and watched as the black stones, all of the same shade, pieced together like a mosaic with more black metal in between. When she light caught it the stone turned to an opaque, smoky-grey.

"How did it do that?" She asked in wonder.

"It's a specific type of obsidian called Apache Tear. It's formed when a volcano spews lava up into the air and it cools too quickly as it's falling down to become true obsidian. That's what gives it that see-through quality."

She grinned, finding his nerdy side, which came out more when he was excited, to be endearing. Wanting to show him just how much she liked his gift, she pulled her hair out of its normal pigtails and shook it out before slipping the headband on. "Truly Adrien, thank you."

He'd gone pink for some reason, but still managed to mutter out. "You're welcome, Marinette. Happy Birthday."

* * *

**Anybody kicking themselves for not figuring it out? XD**

**This does not currently exist on the internet (I looked. . .a lot), but I would buy the crap out of it if it did! Maybe Apache Tear is too brittle to work with? Idk, but I think this would be so cool!**


	10. Puns

**I regret nothing.**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Adrien decided that it was never worth getting advice from a god of bad luck, because it would always come back to bite you in one way or another. Sure, Marinette loved her gift, but now Adrien struggled to pay attention as his eyes kept wanting to wander back to her. Every time he did, though, his heart would get the same squeezing sensation that he usually associated with Ladybug. Except now it was as accompanied by a slight thrill that whispered, "Mine." every time he also caught sight of those gosh darn black cat ears.

At least now it was lunch time, and he could look at her without looking like a total idiot.

Alya was also looking at Marinette and admiring her new headwear. "I swear girl, all you need now is a leather jacket and some boots and you'd make a great Chat Noir cross-play!"

She laughed. "I know, check meow-t."

Adrien choked on his drink. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"You feline okay there Adrien?" she asked, impish grin on her face.

"I thought you hated puns," he said faintly.

She flicked her headband. "Cat ears. It's purr-actically mandatory."

Alya and Nino had still yet to pick their mouths up off the floor, which left Adrien as the only one to respond and he was a half circuit short of a major brain malfunction. Adrien was all but dead, which left Chat to take over. "Cat-itude is everything in the delivery of a good pun."

She tossed her hair and shot him a killer smirk. "I'm paw-sitive that I have what it takes, but I'm open to suggestions if you have any."

His face was burning with the blush he knew had enveloped him, but he held up his hand all the same. "Let me put my thinking cat on."

"Wait a mew-ment, I thought I was the one with the thinking cat on?" Marinette said, pointing to her headband once more.

Adrien crossed his arms, to try and hold back his sudden irrational urge to grab her and pull her close. "You think you're pretty hiss-terical right now, don't you?"

Marinette was acting completely oblivious to his one-sided meltdown. "Oh fleas, you know I'm funny."

This was the best day of his life. He thought the birthday girl was supposed to be the one receiving the gifts, not giving them. "Yeah right, that one was cat-astrophic."

"Mew-y well then. Why don't you show me a classic?" Marinette challenged.

Nothing beat Shakespeare and cats. He'd been wanting to use this one for a while. "Tabby or not tabby? That is the question."

"Pet mew were just waiting to use that one."

"Mew, know it," Adrien affirmed.

"Copy-cat!" she declared with an accusatory finger.

"That's not even a pun!" Ha! He'd won! As the victor, he should demand a kiss from the loser. Wait. No. Bad idea. Where had that even come from?

Marinette crossed her arms and scowled. Gosh darnit, she was still cute. It was the cat ears fault. Definitely that cat ears' fault that he was suddenly finding her this adorable. "Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too!" Marinette turned to Nino beseechingly. "Come on, take meow side."

Nino shook his head. "Who are you and what have you done with my childhood friend?"

Alya swatted him. "No, tell them to continue. This is gold."

Adrien and Marinette whipped around to the forgotten brunette to see her holding her phone up, not even trying to be discreet. Marinette immediately flushed red and began to flail. "You were recording this?!"

"This is for progenies sake," Alya said, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

Adrien felt his joy and tight _something_ in his gut disappear as he saw her phone. "You can't post that on the internet. My father would not be pleased."

"Relax, sunshine. I'm not going to post it."

Marinette eyed her suspiciously. "Then just what are you planning to do with it?"

"One day when you two are both rich and famous, well Marinette gets rich and famous- you'll just get richer and famous-er- I'm going to send this two you in an email one day to keep you humble and remind you to think of all us little people that you left behind."

"So you're going to blackmail us with it?" Marinette asked dryly.

"Only for the greater good."

Adrien was impressed with Alya's ability to keep a straight face as he and Marinette stared her down, and maybe just a little bit terrified.

Nino was the one to finally break the silence. "Dude, I knew you were into puns, but when did you infect Marinette?"

* * *

**This was, in my opinion, the only appropriate response to the prompt "puns". At least where these two are involved XD**


	11. Facetime

**Hope you all enjoyed that pun off! This one is pretty mild in comparison.**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

"Everyone take a five-minute water break and then back to practice!" Mr. D'Argencourt called.

Adrien popped the mask off his face, happy to breathe a little easier with without the metal screen in front of his face. He made his way over to his water bottle and took several long chugs and checked the clock. There was still some time so he discretely made his way into the locker room.

Marinette should be having her party right about now and he wanted to wish her a happy birthday. Still wearing his gloves, he pulled up his contacts and tried to text her. Unfortunately, his thick, gloved thumb hit the wrong button and the Facetime call screen popped up. With a curse, he jammed is fingers against all the buttons until the call ended. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Only for his screen to light up once more the Facetime call, but this time he was receiving. His fingers scrambled in their panic to answer.

"Um, h-hello?" Dangit, he was usually more cool than that! What was with the sudden stuttering? But she was still wearing the gosh darn cat-eared headband!

"Hey Adrien. I saw that I had a missed call from you. What's up?" Marinette's bright and cheery voice said over the phone speaker.

"I meant to send a text, but accidentally hit call instead," he explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry, should I hang up then?"

"No, no. It's fine. I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday and tell you that I hope you're having fun at your party.

Her face flushed pink. "Thank you. Oh, um, here- everyone, say 'hi' to Adrien. He called to check in on the party during his break!"

There was a chorus of "Hi Adrien" s as she panned the phone camera around the room above the bakery. His classmates all smiled and waved. That was Marinette for you. It was her day, but she made sure everyone was included. What did he do to deserve such a good friend?

"Adrien," a different bluenette said.

He turned to see Kagami standing, hands on hips. "Mr. D'Argencourt would give _all_ of us extra lessons for the insolence of checking your phone during practice."

"I was just wishing Marinette a happy birthday, and we're on break!"

"Then give your wishes and come back out here. Break is almost over and Mr. D'Argencourt was asking where you'd disappeared to." She turned and left without waiting for his reply, her confident sashay ever present.

There was a beat of silence before Marinette spoke up. "Adrien, are you breaking the rules calling me?"

"Only technically. I _am_ on break," he said, his hand coming up to take it's familiar place at the back of his neck.

She gave him a gentle smile, letting him know that she wasn't mad at him. "Thank you calling, but you should go back before you get in trouble."

"Yup, I should."

They both paused, the noise of metal on metal growing in his background to let him know that people were finishing her break and the sound of others calling for Marinette's attention on hers. Still, they hovered.

It was Marinette who was the responsible one, giving him a quiet, "Bye, Adrien," before hanging up the call. He slipped his phone back into his locker next to a sleeping Plagg, who'd been oblivious to the entire exchange.


	12. Adrien's Girlfriend

**Alright, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

That morning, Marinette woke up to a slurry of texts. All of them were from Alya.

**For no reason whatsoever, I dare you to stay off the internet for a day. **

**I'm going to need you to confirm that dare for me. **

**I'll arrange for a double date with you, me, Nino, and Adrien if you do it. **

**Or just a girl night with me and you. **

**That also sounds fun, right?**

Marinette stared blearily at her screen before typing the response

**Too early for brain function. Please caffeinate for response. **

Alya's text came almost as soon as Marinette's was sent.

**Get to school. I have a cup with your name on it. **

**Whipped cream with sprinkles on top and apocalyptic levels of sugar. **

The mere thought of coffee was enough to wake her up a bit and get her moving out of bed.

**I am appreciative **

**And suspicious **

**You only buy me caffeine when you have bad news. **

**No bad news!**

**Can't I buy my best friend a drink?**

Marinette opted to not reply with the obvious "No" and instead replied

**I'll be there in 5. **

**Have caffeine at the ready**

She threw on her clothes and stumbled her way out the house and down the street to the school where Alya waited, as promised, with a large, steaming caffeinated monstrosity. Marinette took it with muttered thanks and drank deeply.

Slightly more awake now, she took in her shifty friend and let her brain start processing. Alya was sneaky, but you didn't hang out with her for as long as Marinette had without learning to be sneaky in return- or you know, run around trying to keep your identity secret from your sleuth friend without learning a thing or two.

"So unless you correct me I'm going to proceed from here on out that this morning's text and coffee are your trying to find a way to break it to me that you're pregnant."

"What?!" Alya squawked. "Why on earth would you come to that conclusion?"

Marinette lowered her coffee from her face to give Alya a full view of her pursed lips and raised eyebrow. "I don't know, Alya, what other conclusion should I have come to?"

Alya facepalmed. "All right, fine. I guess it's better that you about it from someone like me rather that Chloe. There was an article printed about Adrien."

"Articles are printed about Adrien all the time," Marinette said, when Alya did not elaborate.

"Well this one involves you. Sort of."

Now her intrigue had been piqued. "How does it only 'sort of' involve me?"

"Because whoever this reporter is, they're a racist idiot."

"Um pardon?"

Alya scowled and opened her phone. "Oh just look at it, it's faster than explaining."

The article boldly declared "Adrien's Girlfriend: Has the Agreste Heir Found True Love?"

It then spectulated on the potential relationship between him and girl he was frequently found in the company of, but the reporter could not get a confirmed relationship from the Agreste boy or those in his circle. Throughout the article were pictures of Adrien with this mystery girl, all partial shots from different angles.

Aside from being total speculative bull, there was another problem with these pictures. Marinette could see why Alya was calling the reporter a racist idiot. Did they think all Asian girls looked alike? For while Marinette was in quite a few of these pictures, she was not in all of them. The rest were of Kagami. But the reporter had written the article insinuating that all these shots were of the same girl.

Marinette took another long swallow of her caffeine and roughly handed Alya her phone back. "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about that."

"I'd skip embarrassed and go straight to angry if I were you," Alya offered.

The tired was preventing her from a full-bodied, arms flailing freakout, but that did not mean a freak out wasn't happening regardless. "I'm pretty sure embarrassed is more my scene. Do you think I could dye my hair red, change my name to Yolanda and spend the rest of my life riding around the country on a motorcycle with my grandmother?"

"Pretty sure your parents wouldn't let that fly," Alya said, visibly struggling to keep the smile off her face.

"Ah well, guess I'll just have to go live in a cave and live off nuts like the social outcast I am. I wonder if I can make leaf skirts fashionable?"

She was saved Alya's response on Marinette's potential future life choices, by Adrien running up to her and grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Marinette! I'm so sorry about what happened. My father is taking care of it and I just got off the phone with Kagami and her mother is also looking into the matter. Please tell me if anyone harasses you because of these acusations and I will personally take care of it!"

Her internal screaming of "He's touching me!" was almost immediately replaced with concern as she registered just how panicked Adrien was. He thought she'd be mad at him. Over something someone else had done.

She reached up to grab his shoulders too. "Adrien. Breathe. It's alright. None of this is your fault."

"But-"

"Nope. Your concern is appreciated. We'll handle any concerns that come our way together. Now you said that you spoke to Kagami. is _she_ doing alright?"

"She had some choice words to say about the reporter, but overall her message to me was that she could handle herself and I should worry about myself and you."

"Okay, so she's fine too. See? Everyone involved is fine and this will all blow over faster than that time the tweet came out declaring me to be your girlfriend."

Adrien groaned at the memory. "I seem to cause you nothing but trouble."

"I cause myself more trouble than you ever have. Besides, any trouble you cause is worth the benefit of being your friend."

Adrien smiled weakly. "Thank you."

"Yo, my dude! What is up?" Nino called, breaking the moment.

Adrien turned to his best friend to explain the dancing drama llama that was his life and Alya stepped up to quietly whisper to Marinette. "Well done, girl! I thought you'd be panicking right along with him."

She shook her head. "How could I panic when he needed me to be calm?"

Alya laughed. "So based on that logic, I just need to live a life of high-stress anxiety and you'll become chiller than Nino."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "I would not recommend trying out that theory. Anyway, let's head to class."

Together the four of them headed in and everyone but Marinette caught sight of dopey expression that Adrien kept shooting her way.

* * *

**Anybody else notice Marinette's tendency to panic and overreact all the way up until someone else stops panicking? Once other people get scared she switches to "Ladybug Mode" and uses her overthinking to plan instead of panic.**


	13. Good Luck

**Well these two cuties just keep getting more cute!**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

"Adrien, wait!"

Adrien paused, shifting his gear bag over his shoulder as turned to get a better look at who was calling his name. Not that he didn't already know by voice alone. Sure enough, there was Marinette, running flat out for him. His knees went a little weak when he registered that she was wearing the cat-eared headband again. He was glad she liked his gift, but she was going to kill him if she ever lived up to her threat to come to school wearing those and a Chat Noir inspired black jacket.

As she got closer, he noticed she was clutching a bag to her chest. She came to a halt, bent over, and propped her hands up on her knees while she tried to catch her breath. "Watchcha got there, Marinette?"

Mr. D'Argencourt came up to them. "Ah, Mlls. Dupain-Cheng, you got them finished, I presume?"

She nodded and held up her bag victoriously, still panting a little.

"Excellent, I shall distribute them amongst my students on the bus ride to the competition." He took the held up bag and walked away.

Adrien watched him go, curiosity piqued. "What was that?"

"I wanted to give you a something to wish you good luck on your competition, but after that news article, I didn't think it was a good idea for me to give something to just you. So I talked to your teacher and he helped me come up with something to give to everyone that was within the rules," Marinette said, breath finally caught.

"You made a gift for everyone, just so you could give me one?" he asked in wonderment.

She nodded and he watched her cheeks darken cutely.

"Why?"

Her face went from pink to red and her hands started to flail like they did whenever she got nervous. "It wasn't that big a deal. I mean, I'd been wanting to practice machine embroidery and this gave me a chance since I couldn't have done all of them by hand and finished in time. It was good practice and team spirit and all that. Oh, um. Here."

She dug around in her little bag and Adrien thought he saw a flash of red, but then she snapped the bag closed and he figured it must have been what was in her hand that she was holding out to him.

He took it and examined it. It was a red ribbon, kept safe and clean folded up un a clear plastic bag. She'd folded it so that the part looking up at him was a monogrammed A.A. stitched in black thread. He pulled it out to unfold it and saw it had been covered in symbols. Four leaf clover, shooting star, Celtic knots, a pig, even a Chinese symbol for luck. His favorite had to be the little ladybug stitched right below his initials. It looked just like the ladybug that Ladybug used when people asked her for her autograph.

"What is all this?" he asked as he continued to look at the stitch work.

"They're various symbols for luck from different cultures. I read a story once where a girl gave a knight her hair ribbon to tie to his sword as a token of luck before a fight. I always thought it was sweet, so I took the idea and embellished it a little. We can all use a little more luck, right?"

There were no words for how touched he was. He could only gape at her.

"Sorry if yours is a little rougher than the others. It's the only one I made by hand, since I was originally planning to only make the one."

"You wield a needle with the finesse that I wield a sword. All you lack is confidence."

Both jumped and turned to see Kagami had come up beside them and was examining his ribbon. When had she gotten here, Adrien wondered. Today she wore the white school competition gear instead of her usual red training gear, so she did blend into the crowd a little better.

"Um, thank you? There's one for you as well, but it's in the bag with everyone else's," Marinette said, giving him a sense of deja vu when she used his own nervous habit and rubbed the back of her neck. The two girls, while neither were particularly close, seemed to have struck some kind of alliance from the whole "girlfriend" debacle and had been going out to public places together. He was pretty sure it was mostly their passive aggressive way of showing that they were, in fact, two different people, but he also hoped that the two were having fun. Kagami, at the very least, could use a few more friends in her life and if Marinette was around Kagami, Adrien felt less worried about her being harassed by the press. After all, Marinette did have an innocent, open face that made everyone feel like they could talk to her.

Kagami gave a curt nod before turning to Adrien. "It's time to load."

He nodded. "I'll be there soon, just let me say goodbye to Marinette."

She gave another nod and held out her hand, "I will load your gear for you then."

He slipped the bag off his shoulder and handed it over. "Thanks."

"I'm surprised your father is letting you ride with everyone else," Marinette commented as she watched Kagami walk away.

Adrien laughed. "Yeah, apparently a couple dozen teenagers with swords is just as good if not better than a body guard."

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah, a photographer tried to sneak into class to get picture of Kagami and I, but as soon as they were found out they who class chased him out. Kagami even stabbed his camera."

"I thought you were required to used blunted swords?"

He chuckled. "We are, that part of what was so terrifying about it. Do you know how much brute force is required to stab something with a dull blade? Anyway, after the incident, father decided that it would be safe enough for me to travel with the group since we all look out for each other." What was it with him and only falling for dangerous women? Not that he'd felt that way about Kagami for a while. At least his good friend Marinette wasn't scary. Wait. Scratch that. He'd seen her mad the first day he'd met her and she was frickin' terrifying. He clearly had either a death wish or an adrenaline addiction to be constantly surrounding himself with women who could kick his butt on a whim.

Marinette gave a hum of approval, snapping him out of his thoughts. "That's good. That's one less worry off my chest."

He blinked. "You were worried about me?"

"Of course. You're my friend."

Why was that phrase both elating and made him feel like he was being stabbed? Without warning, he reached forward and pulled Marinette into a hug. She froze for a second, but then wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tighter before he had a chance to second guess if he should let her go.

When they released, both were a little pick-faced, but grinning.

Adrien cleared his throat. "Well, um, I better get on the bus before I get left behind."

"Alright. I'll see you later."

He had his foot on the first step when she called out one last time. "Adrien?"

He turned.

She flashed him a big thumbs-up and her signature sunshine smile. "Good luck!"

His throat still felt thick from all the emotions swirling in him and he didn't think he could talk just then, so instead he smiled on waved before going inside. He turned to look out the window as the bus pulled away to watch her figure disappear and swore that for a moment he could once more smell that sweet, cinnamon-y smell that had enveloped him when her hair had tickled his nose.

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed!**


	14. The Valentine

**In which Alya tries to do what all of us wish we could and Marinette freaks out. What's new?**

**Quick shout out to the anonymous commenter.**

**Guest- Glad I could make you laugh. Come back every day this month for more. :)**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

His group had smashed through the competition. Adrien liked to think that it was at least partially due to the good luck charms that Marinette had given everyone. The class had gone out as a group to celebrate, but his father had put his foot down there saying the event would be far too rowdy for an Agreste to be present. Adrien had managed to get a compromise out of him and now Marinette, Alya, and Nino were in his room having a party of their own and playing Ultimate Mech Strike 3. Marinette was trashing everyone.

"It's no fun if she wins every time," Alya complained, putting her controller down. "How about her handicap her two against one?"

"That's not a game setting option," Marinette said.

"Yes, but if we set it up for two on two and I don't touch my controller, it's essentially the same thing," Alya said.

"Are you bored?" Adrien asked worriedly.

Alya shook her head. "Nah, but I've been dying to explore your bookshelves since we got here."

"Oh, okay. Bottom floor is mostly classic lit and stuff I had to read when I was homeschooled. Second floor is my personal collection and it's mostly manga."

"Got it," Alya said, heading straight for the second floor as the other three started their next fight, now two on one.

At first Marinette was handling them both very well and Adrien was sure she was going to win again, but as the game progressed her health bar started slipping and the powerful combo moves could only be used on one person at a time. Which meant Nino could take a hit while Adrien powered up or vice versa. Marinette cursed and slumped down the couch when her character was defeat and Adrien and Nino turned to then relentlessly pummel Alya's abandoned character to win the round.

A slow clap from above drew their attention and they turned to see Alya leaning over the railing as she observed. "Congrats, you finally beat the beast. Hey Agreste, I got a question for you."

Adrien turned to better look at her. "Yes?"

She held up a glass display case. Adrien had a fair few of those, most of them full of rare collectables and figurines. That was not the case for this one and he felt his face flush. "What's with the valentine sitting on your shelf in a place of honor?"

"I got it a few years ago and really liked it, okay?"

"Not good enough," Alya said, even from down where he was, he could see her reporter eyes gleaming. "I'm sure you get thousands of valentines every year. What makes this one important enough to keep? For several years too, by your own admission."

Adrien ran his hands through his hair. "I just, really liked it, okay? It was probably the most genuine thing I'd ever received. You could feel that the person who wrote it really put their heart into it and the way they spoke it was like they were looking at the real me instead of the famous me." Also, he thought it was from Ladybug, but he would die before he admitted that to Alya.

"So who is this lucky girl that you're so obviously smitten with?"

"I don't know that I would say smitten. It wasn't signed, so I have no idea who it's from. I wish I did."

Alya's eyes were now drilling down into the couch, but Adrien didn't think she was looking at him anymore. He shifted his gaze to see that Marinette had slumped even further down into her seat, face now bright red. She was not turned around like Adrien and Nino, but staring determinedly out the window.

Alya cleared her throat to bring his attention back up to her. "And what if, Adrien, I said I knew who wrote you this valentine? What would you do with that information?"

He rose up excitedly. "Really? You know who wrote it?"

"I might."

"Who is it?!"

"Ouran High School Host Club!" Marinette shouted.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"Excuse me?" Adrien asked.

"Do you have Ouran High School Host Club? I never could find book five so I stopped reading it because I didn't want to miss anything."

Adrien brightened. "Oh, yeah! I have the whole series. You can borrow it, if you like."

She jumped up and ran up the stairs, snatching the case out of Alya's hands. "Let's put this away before something unnecessary happens to it."

The two shared a stare down before Alya gave a slow nod and pointed to an empty space on his shelf. "I got it from there."

Marinette carefully put it back on the shelf, before turning around to see Adrien still only half way up the stairs. "Right then. Show me the manga!"

Part of him really wanted to ask just what the heck that moment had been, but on the other hand Marinette looked like she was desperately avoiding the question. Was Alya teasing him and she was trying to stop it? Or perhaps, did she also know and thought he wouldn't like the answer?

It was the panic in her eyes that held his tongue. Whatever it was, it wasn't worth making her that upset. He let the conversation change, but knew he'd have to bring it up again at some point. There was clearly something going on and he was wanting so badly to know just who had given him that Valentine.

Alya ran the ladyblog, could it have really come from Ladybug like he thought? But then why would Marinette care so much about him not hearing the answer?

Whatever, he would set it aside for now, because right now was about being with his friends and being happy. He'd waited this long, he could wait a bit longer.

* * *

**I know, I'm mean. We're not even half way through the month. I can't have them get together too soon. Then what would they? Sit together and be even more disgustingly cute than they already are ;)**

**Hope you enjoyed!**


	15. Love Rivals

**Well after that cute moment, let's go back to some dancing drama llamas.**

**Some quick comments to the anonymous commentors.**

**KrisKrat- I looked up "shiny things" as well, but all I got was pics of birds stealing necklaces. I like yours better :D**

**Guest- I'm so glad you're enjoying the story. I hope you stick around to the end :)**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

This time Alya didn't text. This time she came to her house with a wig and a grim expression.

"You're going to want this and you're going to want to leave now before press has a chance to swarm."

Marinette groaned as she sat up in bed. "I thought the whole girlfriend debacle was dying down?"

"It was. Then that crap reporter sent out an 'apology article' where they apologized for the mistake of thinking there was only one person, but then in the same sentence they hypothesized whether Adrien is two-timing you or if he's building a harem."

"They what?!" Marinette squawked, now fully awake.

"Adrien called to warn me. Apparently, his father is furious. He's talked to your parents and Kagami's and they all agreed to get you all out of town while they deal with this, because clearly this guy has issues and is gunning for Adrien."

"What? I can't leave town! What about school?" More importantly, she was Ladybug, and if the article was causing this much of a stir, an akuma was surely to be right around the corner. Probably an upset fan, like last time, or maybe even the reporter this time.

"Relax, the teachers have already been informed about the situation and will be emailing the info over for the school you'll be missing. Mr. Agreste will be providing one of Adrien's old tutors so we don't fall behind."

"We?" Marinette asked.

"Well obviously it couldn't be just you three or it wouldn't help with the whole 'Adrien's secret harem' rumors, so Nino and I will be joining you." She grinned proudly and Marinette suspected this had been her doing.

"Where are we going?" she asked defeatedly.

"Girl, you're not going to believe this! The Agreste's have a beach house in Étretat. We're going there."

"That's over two hours away!"

"I know. No one will know you there. Plus, beach house! This is going to be great!"

This was not great. Not great at all. Ladybug couldn't leave Paris. She supposed she should be grateful that they weren't trying to ship them off to another country, but still. This was a disaster. A disaster!

"Maybe one of us should stay behind. If all of us are together, then wouldn't you and Nino just get roped into the rumors as well?" Marinette suggested.

"What's the holdup Mari? Everything's already been okayed by the adults."

Marinette shifted in her bed. "I just. . ."

Alya gave her a knowing look. "Oh, I know what this is about."

"You do?" Marinette squeaked. She hadn't figured out she was Ladybug yet, if she hadn't gotten it from the text book then she sincerely hoped she didn't get it from being worried to leave town.

"Yeah, you're worried about being stuck in the same house as Adrien and your love rival. Don't worry, girl, I got your back."

Marinette threw a pillow at Alya, finally getting out of bed. "Kagami isn't my love rival, though I will admit that being in the same house as Adrien for a long time does make me nervous."

"When did you and Kagami get so chummy?"

"When we started hanging out to show people that the first article got it wrong. Once you get past her icy exterior you realize she does mean well."

Alya gave a dismissive hum. "Still. She likes Adrien. You like Adrien. That makes you love rivals."

Marinette shook her head. "No because I'm not trying to be Adrien's girlfriend anymore."

"Riiiiiiiight," Alya said. Her tone dripping with disbelief.

"Besides, Kagami and I both agreed that fighting over Adrien would just end badly for Adrien and neither of us want that."

"You what now? You two actually talked about that?"

Marinette nodded, packing up her sewing supplies and a couple of projects, because if she was going to be forced to go then at least she would get to do what she wanted to do. "Kagami is very direct. It's kind of alarming, but also a little refreshing. Maybe instead of trying to get Adrien and I together, _even after I told you not to_, you should spend it trying to get to know her better."

"He's clearly falling for you Mari and don't go lying to yourself by saying that you don't like him anymore. All he needs is a little push to realize his own feelings. Because Captain Oblivious-Sunshine-Boy is never going to figure it out without outside interference."

"Alya, he doesn't need a girlfriend. He needs friends. Besides, if I treat him as a friend I can actually have a conversation with him and doesn't think I hate him."

Alya winced. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that misunderstanding, but you've gotten so much better now! If you'd just talk to him-"

"No," Marinette said firmly before softening and going over to give her best friend a hug. "Look, I'm happy with how things are. Really, I am. We're about to go to a beach house, can we just focus on having fun with friends? Maybe we could go swimsuit shopping? I bet we'll find you something that would make Nino's jaw hit the floor."

Alya grinned. "I like that plan. Let's get you packed and then we can talk with Kagami about if she wants to go with us."

Marinette smiled, knowing her friend was offering to invite Kagami along as an olive branch. "Sounds like a great plan. Let's go!"

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed!**


	16. Beach

**In which words of wisdom are offered by a dear friend and Adrien can't even.**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Adrien had to admit that even though this was just to escape the crazy paparazzi, this was still one of the best vacations he'd been on. Yes, they still technically had to do school and they couldn't leave the grounds without wigs, sunglasses, and the gorilla, but he still was having a blast. Right now, he and Nino were playing video games in their swim trunks while the girls had all gone shopping together.

When they got back, they were all going to the private beach behind the house. It was surrounded on either side by tall natural rock cliffs creating an enclosed inlet. Which meant none of them had to wear disguises!

By some miracle, Paris had managed to avoid akuma attacks while they were gone. Which was good because he didn't want to leave his lady stranded for who knew how many hours while he tried to first escape his friend's and bodyguard, but also figure out a way to get back to Paris. In completely unrelated news, his dad had been working himself twice as hard as normal both running his business and dealing with the reporter and all the havoc he was causing. Even with Kagami's mom joining in, things were still a battle.

"So, dude," Nino said, pulling him out of his reverie, "Now that the girls are gone, there's something I've been wanting to ask you."

"Okay?"

"This whole rumor mill thing going on- couldn't it be stopped if you went and got yourself an actual girlfriend?"

Adrien sighed, letting his concentration on the game slip, allowing Nino to pull ahead a little. "I mean, it could make things easier for _me_, but I would also have to take the other person into consideration as well."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that even my normal life is pretty crazy with fans and stuff. Not to mention my schedule. Could I really give someone that important to me that kind of time and attention that they deserve?"

"Maybe you could if they went to the same school as you. Take, say, Marinette for example- you two share a lot of classes and could easily hang out there."

Adrien wrinkled his nose. "Hanging out at school is not what I had in mind for dates. Besides, after everything Marinette's been through just being friends with me, I doubt she'd ever want to date me. I'm nothing but trouble."

Nino snorted. "Dude, have you met Marinette? She eats trouble for breakfast and then spits it out as pretty brooches and stuff."

"Just because she _can_ doesn't mean she _wants_ to. And I'd still feel bad."

"Maybe you should ask Marinette what her opinion is."

Adrien set down his controller to run his hands through his hair. "This whole conversation is moot point anyway. I told you I like someone else."

Nino raised an eyebrow at him. "Riiiiiiiight. Ladybug. Dude, you're a famous model and everything, but I think even _you _might be out of your league there."

"It could happen!" Adrien said defensively.

"I highly doubt it. You forget I date the girl who runs the ladyblog. In a recent interview with Alya that hasn't been posted yet, Ladybug said she had no plans to ever date anyone as her superhero self because it would put them in too much danger."

Dangit! That was an argument that excluded Chat Noir too. When had she even done that? Must have been during a solo patrol. "I can still hope," Adrien mumbled.

The winner sign flashed on the scene and Nino put down his controller to put a hand on Adrien's shoulder. "Yes, you can, and if you really like her then I'm not gonna push you to let her go. I just think you should really think and ask yourself if you really are that into her or if you might be into her because it's safer than someone who might actually say yes."

Adrien didn't get a chance to respond, because it was then that they girls chose to come back from their shopping trip, filing in with bag in each arm and a tired looking Gorilla in tow.

"Just how many swimsuits did you buy?" Nino asked, eyeing the bags.

Alya laughed. "It's more than just swimsuits. We may have gotten a little carried away."

"False. We were not carried away. All our purchases were deliberate, and met the preplanned agenda," Kagami said.

Alya rolled her eyes. "Okay, fair. Anyway, why don't you both head out before us and we'll meet you outside one we put these away and get changed."

"Alright, dudettes. Adrien and I will meet you out on the beach then. Don't take too long," Nino called, rising from the couch with a stretch meant to flex his arms.

Alya gave him a wink while Marinette laughed. Kagami gave him an appraising stare, but withheld her judgment. The girls went upstairs to put their stuff away and Adrien followed Nino out.

"Wanna do some beach volley ball while we wait?" Nino offered.

"Sure," Adrien agreed.

They played casually, neither feeling competitive since they were just using this to pass the time. A whistle brought their attention and both gave a glance, seeing it was just Alya, Adrien took his shot with the volley ball. It soared over the net in a perfect arch. Coming down right on Nino's face, because he hadn't taken his eyes off his bikini clad girlfriend.

"Oh my gosh, are you alright?" both Alya and Adrien shouted, rushing over to him.

"I'm good. I'm good. He didn't hit it that hard. Babe, you look amazing," Nino said, eyes a little dazed. Adrien wasn't entirely sure if it was from the ball or the swimsuit.

He glanced over at Alya, Nino hadn't fallen over, but her hands twitched like she was fighting to not grab his face, whether to check him for injury or kiss him, Adrien again wasn't sure. He guessed he could appreciate why Nino got distracted. Alya wore an orange bikini. A gold circlet connected the two triangles covering her chest while a halter top design held it in place. There were two more circlets for the bottom piece, one on each hip holding the front and back together. Were this his girlfriend approaching him dressed like that, he could understand some loss of brain function. He just hoped the volleyball hadn't caused any permanent problems.

"Is everything alright?" He looked up to see Kagami approaching in a bold red two piece. The bow tying the front together added a touch of softness to her character that normally wasn't there and he wondered if Marinette had talked her into buying that one.

"He got hit in the head with a volleyball," Alya shouted over her shoulder.

Kagami approached and held up a finger. "Please try to track my movements using only your eyes."

Nino followed the movements while everyone else watched him. No one noticed Marinette's approach.

"Is everything okay?"

Adrien nodded, starting to speak before he turned around. "Yeah, he's fine he just-"

He had to stop, because he lost train of thought when he saw Marinette in a 1950's style red polka dot swimsuit with a sweetheart neckline and a halter-top

"He's just what?"

"Volleyball head."

She cocked her head to the side, her pigtails bouncing as she did. "Huh?"

"He got hit in the head with a volleyball," Alya explained before side eyeing Adrien. "You need someone to pick your jaw up off the sand for you there Agreste?"

"Um what?" he asked weakly. Nino's words about Ladybug whispered in his head, _ask yourself if you really are that into her or if you might be into her because it's safer_.

"Alyaaaa," Marinette said warningly.

"You're fine," Kagami said, ignoring the other conversation as she finished her examination of Nino. "If you get a headache, go sit down."

"Where did you learn how to check for concussions?" Alya asked.

"Fencing," Kagami and Adrien said together.

"Well now that we know we're all not concussed, how about we have some fun?" Marinette said.

Adrien, who still wasn't sure that he trusted his mouth to work just yet, stuck to nodding.

Nino fist pumped. "Alright! Beach day! Last one to the water is a beached whale!"

* * *

**I had trouble know where to stop this. Sorry if the ending feels a little abrupt, but I'm trying to keep with the deadline of a chapter a day.**


	17. Confession

**A quick shout out to everyone in Paris and everyone affected by the fire at Notre Dame- my heart goes out to you.**

**In this chapter we get a bit of resolution on the Valentine chapter and Adrien has feelings and doesn't know what to do. XD**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Kagami- as the only one that could actually stand the cold water- was swimming laps, Nino and Alya were playing beach volleyball, leaving Adrien alone with Marinette. He was happy, but finding it incredibly difficult to maintain eye contact. He couldn't look down though, because that was worse and looking up above her head was weird, so he was currently focusing on her left ear.

Marinette reached out to touch his cheek. "You're looking a little pink. Do you need help reapplying sunscreen? I don't think your photographer would be amused if you came back sunburned."

"It's fine. You're fine. I mean, I'm fine! Thank you for being concerned."

She smiled. "What are friends for?"

Previously, that comment made him delighted, now he felt a pinprick to his heart each time she said it. He rubbed at his chest. Gosh darnit, Nino. It was his conversation that was making Adrien feel so self-conscious about everything.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

Something else to talk about. Anything else to talk about. "There's actually something that's been on my mind for a while now, but I'm not sure if you want to help me figure it out."

"Why don't you tell me and we'll see what I can do?" Marinette offered.

Adrien took a deep breath. This wasn't the best change of topic, but he was committed now. "Do you remember about two weeks ago when we had that party at my house after the fencing competition?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, Alya found my valentine and acted like she knew who gave it to me, but then you changed the topic like you knew what was going on."

Now it was her turn to struggle with eye contact. "Was I that obvious?"

"Well you weren't exactly subtle," he said with a chuckle. "So was Alya just messing with me or does she actually know who signed it?"

Marinette sighed. "She wasn't messing with you. Well, she was, but she wasn't lying about knowing who wrote it."

"And you also know." This was less a question and more of a statement.

She answered anyway, speaking quietly and staring at the sand beneath them. "I do."

"Will you tell me?"

Marinette flopped back and Adrien had to force himself to refocus on her left ear and the conversation. "Are you sure you want to know? Isn't it more fun imagining. What will you do if it's not who you think it is or who you want it to be?"

"There isn't someone specific I was hoping it would be," Adrien said.

Marinette raised an eyebrow and waited.

"Okay, so maybe there is a specific person I had in mind, but even if it's not, I'd still like to meet whoever wrote that because they felt genuine and like they saw the real me. I could use more people like that in my life."

Marinette worried her lip, her arm came up to rest over her eyes, blocking most of her face from his view. "I wrote it."

. . . . What? Please excuse him while he screamed internally. Externally he gave a small laugh. I guess that makes sense why Alya knew, but why did you never tell me?"

"That's a bit of a story and it's really embarrassing."

"I promise not to laugh."

"You just did laugh," she grumbled.

"That was from shock, not because I'm making fun of you."

She took a couple of deep breaths, never removing her arm from over her eyes. He realized she was doing it because it was easier to admit this if she wasn't looking at him. "That day I saw the poem that you wrote. The valentine I gave you was a reply to it because I thought it was about me."

He was glad she couldn't see him blush "midnight hair" and "bluebell eyes", he could see why she would think that the poem for Ladybug was about him. "Is that why you didn't sign it? Because you thought I would know it was from you?"

Marinette groaned. "No, that was just a dumb mistake. I forgot to sign it. I was going to try to get it back so I could, but then Dark Cupid happened and I forgot in all the confusion."

"You still could have told me the next day."

"No, I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"Because you never gave a valentine to me," she said quietly, the quiver barely there.

Adrien didn't have a response to that, but thick, sludgy guilt started to settle in his stomach.

"When you never gave me a valentine in return, I figured you had either changed your mind or it wasn't meant for me in the first place. I was mortified with myself. So I kept quiet and figured that if you weren't going to bring it up then neither would I."

"Marinette, I am so sorry. I never meant to hurt your feelings. I honestly didn't know who sent it to me." Did he hug her? Did he bow and grovel and beg her forgiveness? He didn't know what to do!

Marinette finally sat up and pulled her arm away from her face so she could rest her hand on his shoulder. With another punch to his gut he noticed that her eyes were watery and over bright. "It's fine, Adrien. I know you're not the type to be cruel. I'm the one who should apologize for reading your private letter. I was just a girl with a stupid crush."

"I'm sorry what?" Oops. That inny was an outy. But how else was he supposed to react to so many bombshells being dropped at once?!

Marinette's face became red enough to rival her swimsuit and Adrien felt his own face burn as well. "Words bad me ignore! No, I mean, bad my that ignore. No! My. Bad. Ignore. That."

"Good hot face fine!" It had been a while since he'd last heard her this flustered, and now here he was doing just as bad because he was a little flustered. Not angry. Flustered. She stuttered when she was embarrassed. He was such an idiot!

Marinette took several deep breaths and forced herself to look him in the eye. When she spoke her words were halting and careful as she forced herself to speak clearly. "I just want to say that my crush on you is in the past, so you don't need to worry about giving me a reply or hurting my feelings or anything like that."

What about his feelings? What had been a pinprick to his heart had now grown to a full on stab. Did he want her to have a crush on him? What about Ladybug? He couldn't deal with this right now. He stood up, brushing off his pants and holding out his hand to her. "Should we go rejoin the group. I bet we could play doubles with Nino and Alya."

Marinette blinked, clearly thrown by the sudden change of subject. "Huh?"

"Everyone else is going to start to get suspicious if we keep just sitting here by ourselves. Unless you have something else to confess? Purrhaps you just think you can't beat me. I'd understand, I am awesomely intimidating."

She took his hand and rose up to meet him. Tears gone and replaced with the spark of a challenge. "You're awesomely awkward, you homeschooled snowflake. And you're on!"

* * *

**Well I hope you enjoyed this. Next one will come with some angst, but I will try to end with lighthearted.**


	18. In The Rain

**I present to you- Adrien has feelings. I was orignally going to do this from Marinette's prespective since it was more lighthearted, but then realized we needed to know what was going through Adrien's head after so many bombshells were dropped on his poor snowflake head. So have a healthy dose of angst with a side of dorbs.**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Adrien's head leaned against the window, watching the rain pitter patter onto the glass.

"Plagg, I don't understand."

"Such is the way of mortal beings. You finally start to understand the universe and then you die."

"I'm not talking about the universe. I'm talking about myself."

Plagg didn't immediately respond, and when Adrien looked over he saw that Plagg had paused mid bite on his wedge of cheese. He looked torn, but eventually set down the uneaten cheese to fly over to Adrien and nuzzle up under his chin, releasing a low purr as he did.

"Alright kid, let's walk through this. We'll start with the easy one- how do you feel about Nino?"

"He's my friend."

"Okay, and how do you feel when he spends lots of time with Alya?"

"I mean, that's his girlfriend so it's understandable when he prioritizes hanging out with her."

"But?" Plagg prompted.

"But it does hurt sometimes if I get free time in my schedule but he's hanging out with her instead," Adrien admitted.

"And why is that?"

Adrien had to think that over for a minute. "Mostly because I'm already so busy and don't get to hang out one on one with him a lot anyway."

"But not because he's hanging out with Alya?"

"No, Alya's cool and she makes him happy," Adrien said with a shake of the head.

"Very good. I'm proud of you," Plagg said.

Adrien glowed under the praise he so rarely received.

"We're going to switch people now. How do you feel about Kagami?"

"Friend?"

"Why are you unsure?"

"It could be more, I guess. Dating her would be easy because I would always know where I stand with her and she comes from a similar background asto me."

"And how would you feel if she got a boyfriend?"

Adrien's brow creased as he tried to picture it. "I'm not sure."

He could feel Plagg's head nodding, his little ears tickling his chin. "That's okay. We'll move on to the last one- how do you feel about Marinette?"

"She's a friend," he said automatically.

"How do you feel when she hangs out with Nino?"

Adrien shrugged. "That's fine, at least when they hang out I can usually join them, unlike when it's Nino and Alya."

"And what about when it's Luka?"

Adrien's jaw snapped shut with a click, and he spoke through gritted teeth. "It's fine."

"Let's try this again, and be honest," Plagg said dryly.

"I don't like it," he huffed.

"There we go, and why don't you like it?"

Adrien didn't know how to find the origin of the sick twist in his gut that made everything a tangled mess. "I'm not sure."

"What's the different between him and Nino?"

"Nino, while he used to like her, currently just sees her as a friend. Luka likes her, like _likes her_ likes her."

"Why is it bad if someone else likes her?"

Adrien ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Why does any of this matter anyway? Marinette only sees me as a friend. She said it herself she used to like me, but she doesn't anymore."

"Marinette's emotions are someone else's jurisdiction. I'm here for you," Plagg said with a wave of his paw.

"And why do you suddenly care so much?" Adrien snapped.

"I always care. I'm a very kind and caring person. I ooze compassion and consideration. It flows from me like a cheese fondue fountain."

Adrien raised an eyebrow.

Plagg sighed. "So maybe my caring is hidden behind a thick rind of sarcasm, but the fact remains that if you continue down this path of ignoring your own feelings, you leave yourself open to being akumatized and that's the last thing any of us want. Now quit avoiding the question and tell me your feelings!"

Adrien opened his mouth to retort, there was a knock at the door. Plagg hissed and disappeared under Adrien's shirt while Adrien called, "Come in."

The door swung open to reveal Nino. "The adults want us to gather downstairs so they don't have to come find us once they finish getting ready to go."

"Okay. Be there in a sec," Adrien said, getting up from his spot next to the window.

Nino looked at him with concern and Adrien bit back the urge to groan. Please, no more talks on emotions. He didn't think he could handle anymore today. "You doing okay, dude? You look like you got a lot on your mind."

Adrien nodded. "It's fine. I've just been thinking about what you said yesterday."

"Okay, let me know if you need to talk anything out."

"I'm fine for now, but I'll let you know."

Nino nodded and didn't press further. Bless him. Together they went downstairs where all the girls were. Alya was laying on the couch watching the news of what was going on back in Paris. Marinette and Kagami were standing together off to the side talking quietly. Kagami nodded when she saw him come in and gave Marinette a clap on the shoulder.

"Just consider what I said."

She left, allowing Adrien to drift closer and see that Marinette looked as pensive as him.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

She turned to him and smiled. "Just thinking over some advice."

"Everyone seems to be dishing that out today," Adrien said with a chuckle.

"Alya hasn't been bugging you has she?"

"No. Why would Alya be bugging me?"

Marinette blushed and turned to look at the TV. "She's been wanting me to tell you about the valentine since she found out you kept it, and I was worried she'd pester you to get you to ask me. She didn't, did she?"

"Oh, no. That really was my own curiosity. I promise no one put me up to that."

Marinette put a hand over her heart. "That's a relief."

Thunder rumbled through the house, not quite loud enough to overtake the TV. Marinette's eyes shined in excitement. "Want to go outside to watch the lightning while we wait?"

"Sure!" Adrien said, he could feel the not-so-subtle eyes of the other occupants watching them and a chance to be unobserved for a moment sounded lovely.

They stepped out front and shut the door behind them. Marinette when out to lean on the porch railing. Staring out at the rain with a peaceful expression.

"You really like the rain, don't you?" He asked, keeping his voice down to avoiding interrupting the moment.

"It mostly comes with positive memories for me. Playing in the rain was a favorite of mine as a kid. Puddle jumping with my maman, having hot chocolate and cookies with my papa. Watching all the flowers come to life once the rain stops."

"Sounds like fun," he said wistfully.

She side-eyed him for a moment and the pensive look came back. "I fell in love in the rain."

There was that gut twisting sensation again. "Oh?"

"Yeah, he gave me his umbrella. Like a total gentleman right after I'd been a total jerk to him."

Wait a second. "Are you talking about the day we met?"

"Yup." Her words were light and her casual stance didn't change, but there was a forced air hiding just under the surface of it. "It was your kindness and the fact that you were brave enough to try and fix something even when it wasn't your fault."

His heart did a flip and he wanted to pull her in close, but before he could act on it a single word rang through his mind. "Had" She had a crush on him. Past tense. Not current. "And what changed?" He asked, trying to force the same nonchalance.

"I realized my crush made me a terrible friend and you needed a friend more than another crazed fan."

"Well lucky me that I get such a good friend," he said, hoping none of the bitterness had seeped through.

They sat in a silence that burned for Adrien. Full of desire to act, to speak, to do something to distract from the beautiful ache that now filled his heart. "You know, I have never puddle jumped in the rain."

She turned to him with a start. "Never?"

"Nope," he said, letting his "p" pop.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the porch steps. "Well we'll have to fix that right now."

"You're not worried about getting in trouble?" he asked, though he followed willingly into the downpour.

She shook her head, hair already soaked and flipping raindrops in his face. "This is an affront to your childhood!"

"I didn't realize you took puddle jumping so seriously," he said with a grin that didn't feel forced this time.

She twirled to face him, fists coming to rest on her hips in a stance he'd seen Ladybug take many times. "I am a professional puddle jumper, thank you very much. Now watch closely while I show you how it's done."

He watched as she skipped up to the nearest puddle on the walkway and paused right in front of it before leaping right into the center of it with both arms up in victory while her laugh rang out clear, resonating in his chest and rolling over him like thunder. She twirled back around and she was his sunshine once again. "Now you try."

It was worth every second of the scolding that they got when it actually came time to leave. It was definitely worth it when the two of them had to huddle together in the car for warmth, sharing a towel to try and keep the leather seats dry. All of it was worth it and that's what was most important to him.

* * *

**The next couple of chapters are probably going to be angsty as well, but I'll try to add fluff where I can to lighten the mood.**


	19. Akumatized

**I promise that the next chapter will be more lighthearted(and probably short), and that the angst will be worth it. For now, Adrien is the concern.**

**Some minor Ladrien in here. No LadyNoir because-**

**A)It's Adrienette week and**

**B)I can't write fight scenes in a day. I'm just not good enough at that yet. **

**If I get enough requests I might pop it in as an extra scene after the month is up.**

**Quick shoutout the a guest reviewer.**

**Izzy- Plagg really is the best. I'm glad you liked the chapter ^_^**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Yes, things had calmed down, but Adrien hadn't been at school when things were at their worst, so the stares and whispers still felt uncomfortable. Certainly not the worst he'd been through, but still uncomfortable. The worst part was the fact that even after the article taking was released of the reporter taking back everything that they'd said, rumors still flew about him and Marinette and Kagami.

How he wished he could make them all go away. Kagami handled herself just fine, and frankly speaking Marinette also did a good job of dispelling rumors, but the fact that she even had to was still a problem in his mind.

A group of girls from the year ahead of them currently had her surrounded by her locker asking all sorts of questions. He was on his way over to break it up, when, of all people, Chloe came barreling in.

"Move it, losers! You're blocking my path."

They scattered leaving just Chloe and a gob smacked Marinette. Adrien had to admit that he was pretty shocked too. Normally, at best, he could count on Chloe to ignore Marinette, but here she was helping get rid of all the questioners. He watched as Chloe marched up to her and whispered something in Marinette's ear.

Adrien was close enough to hear her reply as she stepped back from the blond. "That's not funny, Chloe." And she took off running.

Adrien booked it the last few steps and grabbed Chloe. "What did you say to her?"

Chloe tossed her hair. "Why don't you go ask her? Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous!"

Adrien took off to do just that, but Marinette was already out of sight.

"Marinette! Marinette, where are you?" He cried, feet pounding down the hallway.

A boom shook the building, filling him with dread. Please no. Please not right now. Please not her.

The screams picked up shortly after the boom.

"AKUMA!"

He headed for the closet Marinette had told him was a favorite hiding place of hers. He reached it just in time to watch Ladybug burst out of it. He ran right past her and into the room, seeing it empty, he whirled around to face the heroin who had frozen in shock when he'd ran right past her.

He turned to face her, dread rising. "Have you seen Marinette?"

She shook her head violently. "Nope. No Marinette's here. Haven't seen her."

He grabbed her by the shoulders. "This is bad. Really really bad."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Last I saw, she ran off crying. She's the akuma!"

"She's not the akuma," Ladybug said firmly.

Adrien shook Ladybug, trying to vent his panic somehow. "You don't know that! You just said you haven't seen her."

Ladybug opened her mouth to retort, but almost immediately snapped her mouth shut again. "I will take your theory under advisement then. In the meantime, I have an akuma to handle and would appreciate it if you got somewhere safe."

"I'll just hide here, Marinette said this is where she usually goes during akuma attacks anyway so if she's not akumatized she'll make her way here," Adrien said, and shut the door on Ladybug. "Plagg, tell me when she's gone."

Plagg poked out of his coat pocket. "You're not helping anyone being that panicked. Calm down or you'll be just as likely to hurt Marinette as help her."

"Can you just go look?"

"I will once you take three breaths."

Adrien breathed in and out quickly. "Three now go."

"That's not breathing, that's panting. Again, but slower and hold between the ins and outs."

He didn't think he'd ever felt such a strong urge to choak the tiny god before, but he did as ordered and had to reluctantly admit that he did feel a little more calmed down once he did.

"Okay, now will you go look?"

"Gladly," Plagg sniffed, phasing part way through the door before popping back in. "The cost is clear."

"Plagg, Claws out!"

He leapt from the room as soon as he was transformed. It wasn't hard to find the akuma, all he had to do was follow the screams.

*** one akuma fight later** *

"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug called, summoning the magic bugs to come and fix everything from the fight. Chat stood weak-kneed as he stared at the girl on the ground. It wasn't Marinette. If he remembered right, it was one of the girls who had been pestering Marinette earlier and Chloe had banished. More importantly, it wasn't Marinette.

It wasn't Marinette.

It _wasn't_ Marinette.

It wasn't Marinette.

.

.

.

So where the heck was Marinette?!

He barely spared his lady enough time for a fist bump before he was taking off, rushing to the room Marinette had told him was her favorite akuma hiding place. She still wasn't there when he got there, but a shrill beep of his ring told him that soon Chat Noir wouldn't be either.

A flash of green light engulfed him, and Chat Noir was replaced with Adrien and a disgruntled Plagg.

"Cheese!" he moaned.

"Here," Adrien said tersely, tossing a piece up to him. Plagg caught it and zipped down into his pocket, barely getting settled before Adrien was out the door and running down the hall in search once more of Marinette.

He turned a corner and crashed right into someone.

"I'm sorry!" they both cried.

He pulled back to see a familiar bluenette. "Marinette!"

"A-Adrien!"

"Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!"

"I ran and hid when I heard the akuma."

He pulled her in for a hug, body still trembling from the adrenaline. She grabbed him back and he buried his face in the crook of her neck.

"I thought the akuma was you," he whispered.

She reached up to pet his head. "No, I'm fine. I'm sorry I worried you. I'm fine. It's okay. Everything's okay."

"What did Chloe say to you?" Adrien asked, pulling back to look her in the face.

"Nothing important," Marinette said, gaze dropped.

"I saw you cry. It was clearly something important to you."

Marinette stepped out of his arms and fiddled with her back strap. He resisted the urge to pull her back in. "She made a joke and I didn't think it was funny."

"Just what did she say exactly?" Adrien asked, keeping his hands fisted at his side to make sure he kept them to himself.

"She told me that I better realize how lucky I am to be dating you," Marinette said, face once more flushed scarlet.

Adrien felt his own burn as well. "Looks like she misunderstood the article as well. I'll have a talk to her about that."

The bell rang to let everyone know that classes would begin again now that the akuma was cleared out and Marinette mumbled, "Class." Before booking it for the classroom.

Adrien followed behind at a slower pace, fighting to get his model look back into place before he had to face everyone else. Both of them forgetting for a moment, that they would still have to face each other because they were still seat buddies.

* * *

**Not entirely sure I'm thrilled with this ending, but it's the best I could come up and I waisted too much time trying to figure out how to write a fight scene. Hope you still enjoyed. Thanks for reading!**


	20. Hamsters

**Short but sweet. Sorry it's a little later than normal.**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Adrien, Marinette, Nino, and Alya were all sitting at lunch the next day when Nino pulled out his phone and said, "Guys, I found this funny meme on the internet the other day. He showed them his screen to show two pictures. The top one was of a cat, curled up and sleeping inside a briefcase. The second was of a Corgi dressed in a suit and sitting at a desk. It came with the caption- Your Honor, I'd like to close this case.

Adrien snorted. "Good one. What a good cat."

Nino rolled his eyes. "Excuse you, the dog is clearly the good boy here."

"The cat makes the meme," Adrien argued.

"Dogs are better," Nino shot back.

Oh, he did not just go there. "Cats!"

"Dogs!"

"Cats!"

"Dogs!"

"Cats!"

"Babe, back me up here. Dogs are clearly better," Nino said, turning to Alya.

She threw her hands up, "Don't get me involved in your bro-mance squabbles."

Adrien turned to Marinette, who was once again wearing her incriminatingly cute cat-eared headband. "Marinette, surely you agree that cats are better than dogs."

She looked back and forth between the two boys slowly before shrugging. "I'm personally more of a hamster girl."


	21. Nightmare

**Thoughts and prayers to those effected by the Sri Lanka bombings. I'm so sorry for you.**

**Another short one, but important progress occurs.**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Adrien could only stand in horror as the tears fall from Marinette's sweet bluebell eyes once more watching the dark butterfly as it flew towards her. He struggled to reach her, but all his movements were like swimming through sand and panic made him mute. He could only stare as landed on her earrings and a purple butterfly mask glowed across her face.

"NO!"

Adrien sat up panting, grasping at his chest to try and calm him heart rate down.

Plagg groaned and rolled over on the pillow next to him. "Unless there is a cheese eating akuma in this room right now, don't you dare wake me up."

Adrien ignored him and went to go sit at his couch, the light of the moon still shining in through the windows. He tried to watch TV but nothing could keep his attention. He briefly debated summoning Plagg to take a late-night stroll as Chat Noir, but the Kwami had already made it clear that he would rather not be disturbed. So he did what he used to do before he got a magic ring. He went rock climbing.

The physical exertion did more to help clear his head than just sitting and he could feel his adrenalin ebbing as his body kept moving. This wasn't the first time this had happened. In fact, he'd been having similar nightmares for almost a week now since the time he'd first thought she'd been akumatized. Why did he care so much?

At this point most of his friends had been akumatized and while he was always concerned for his friends, he'd never had nightmares over it. The thought of Marinette being akumatized made him terrified. He didn't know if he could bring himself to fight her. Could he attack Marinette? The very idea filled him with revulsion and his concentration slipped, leaving him dangling from the wall by one hand.

He let go and free fell to the padded mat below. As he lay there a voice that sounded like Plagg echoed in his mind What makes her different?

It was the question he'd been dodging this whole time. The one he finally had an answer to.

"I'm in love with Marinette," he whispered.

"About time," Plagg's voice grumbled from the bed. "Now get over here and go back to sleep. I'm not the one with a dawn photoshoot."

* * *

**Well, there ya go! And with that we have the beginning of the end of the angst. . . probably. These two dorks still need to get together. Hope you're all enjoying everything so far. Thanks so much for reading! Happy Easter for those who celebrate it.**


	22. Aged Up

The door tinkled as Adrien pushed it open. The air from the inside immediately wafted out to greet him, enveloping him in a welcoming smell of baked goods.

"Welcome! Oh, hello Adrien. Marinette is upstairs if that's who you're looking for," Sabine said when he entered.

"Yes, Ma'am." Adrien said, already heading for the back stairs to lead him to the living area and further up until he was just under her trap door.

"Who is it?" She called.

"Adrien. Can I come in?"

There was a shriek and a crash.

"Are you okay?!" he asked, raising the door to see what had happened.

"Don't come in!" She shouted, making him pause. "I just tripped and now it's a mess up here. Give me a minute and I'll meet you downstairs."

Adrien waffled between listening to her request and ignoring her in favor of making sure she was okay. Ultimately he decided he didn't want to risk her wrath if she actually was fine. "Okay, but if you're not down in ten minutes, I'm going to assume that you got tangled up in a ball of yarn and come up here to set you free."

"Just wait downstairs. I'll be there in five."

He went back down and began to peruse the shelves of the living area. They were filled with pictures of the family. A young Tom and Sabine on their wedding day. A blue eyed baby that had to be Marinette. He saw a picture of what he assumed was Tom as a child kneading dough with his mother watching from behind. Did that woman do everything in a leather jacket? He paused at one photo of a young girl in a pink cheongsam smiling up at the camera. Did Marinette have a sister he didn't know at? She looked exactly like Marinette, except with grey eyes and her hair was in two braids instead of two pigtails.

"Adrien, I thought you'd be upstairs by now."

He turned to see Sabine carrying a tray of snacks. "She said to said down here and she'd come to me."

Sabine nodded and set the tray of snacks on the coffee table in front of the TV. "Alright, I'll leave these here then for when she come down, but feel free to help yourself while you wait."

"Gladly," Adrien said, already reaching for a macaroon off the plate.

"I probably won't be able to make it up for a while, do you need anything while I'm here?"

He turned back around and pointed to the picture. "Who is that girl?"

"That's me."

Adrien did a double take between the picture and the woman. "You looked exactly like Marinette!"

Sabine laughed. "Yes, the resemblance is uncanny. Would you like to see more?"

Adrien nodded and Sabine went over to pull two books off the shelf, laying both of them next to the tray of treats. "This one is my photo book and this one is Marinette's."

Adrien made his way over to sit down in front of them, curiosity getting the better of him. As he flipped through both books. Lots of smiling pictures of Marinette, frequently covered in dirt or flour in her younger years and in her later ones there were many candid shots of her drawing, sewing, and crafting. As well as photos of her showing off or modeling her various creations. He marveled at how similar she and her mother looked and kept looking through that to get a glimpse of what aged up Marinette would look like.

He came to the wedding photos of Tom and Sabine and was glad he was sitting down because the unbidden image of an older Marinette, also dressed in white, made him feel weak in the knees. Ever since he'd realized he liked her, such thoughts had started coming with greater frequency, though before it had been mostly daydreams of dates and hand holding. He was getting, as Plagg liked to say, disgustingly sentimental.

"What are you doing?"

Adrien jumped and turned to see Marinette, leaning over the back of the couch to look at the photo album. His brain superimposed her with the new aged up, bridal version and he felt his cheeks flush. "Nothing!"

"Doesn't look like nothing."

"Your maman gave them to me," He explained, holding up the one of her photos as well.

She snatched it up and held it to her chest. "Don't look, there are some really embarrassing ones in there."

He laughed. "Too late. I looked through yours first. Nothing seemed embarrassing to me. You were an adorable little kid, with a penchant for rolling around in flour."

She groaned. "I didn't roll around in it. I just happened to get covered in it a lot, and my papa thought it was funny to throw it at me whenever we baked together."

"Like I said- adorable."

She scowled. "What did you even come here for? Did you just want to snoop around in my old family photos?"

"No," Adrien said, closing the other photo album and turning to face her. His palms began to sweat. "I wanted to ask you something."

She waved her hand for him to continue. "So ask away."

"So, there's this thing coming up that I'm a part of-"

"The Spring Fashion Show, I'm well aware," Marinette said.

"Well, I've been talking to my father-"

"Is this going to end in good news or bad news?"

He scowled. "If you'd stop interrupting, you'd find out."

She stuck her tongue out at him, but otherwise stayed quiet. Gosh darnit he liked it when she was sassy. Now he was distracted. Why did he come here again? Right.

"I got a front seat ticket for the event and wanted to know if you wanted to be my plus one?" he blurted.

"Like a date?" she squeaked.

Ah crap, this was why he'd had a script! But then she had to go and be all cute and sassy and now he had to improvise.

"No. No. Of course not. I meant, not that I wouldn't love date you- er-um-what I mean is, that I'll be working and probably won't get to hang out with you very much so I wouldn't consider that a date. Not that I would try to make you go on a date with me, though if you-"

Marinette put a finger to his mouth, shutting him up immediately. Her lips were pressed into a thin line. At first, he thought she was mad at him, but then he saw the twinkle in her eyes and the way that her shoulders shook. She was laughing at him!

He pulled back from her finger and let his bottom lip lower in a pout.

Now she laughed for real, clutching her sides as the giggles spilled out. He wanted to hear more. He needed to hear more.

He put one hand over his heart while he flung the other up to cover his forehead. "Oh my poor model ego. You wound me so, why I'm so hurt, I may never walk a catwalk again. This is a reel dilemma."

Her laughter continued for a bit, but then she stopped and narrowed her eyes at him. "Did you just make a sewing pun?"

"Don't be spoolish. I would never do such a thing."

"Watch it, I'm about to give my answer."

He leaned forward with a wide grin. "I wait on pins and needles."

She gave him a flat, unimpressed face.

"Okay, okay. I'm done for now."

"Better be," she muttered.

"So what is your answer?" He asked when she didn't immediately tell him.

"Impatient, impatient. No need to needle it out of me."

"Did you just. . ." he gasped.

"I admit nothing. Anyway, yes. I'd love to go with you. That sounds like a delightful time."

He couldn't help it, he fist pumped. "Awesome! I'll have Nathalie give you your ticket and everything you need to know."

"Good plan. Quick question- can I make my own outfit, or will your father already have something in mind since I'm coming as your plus one?"

Adrien's brow furrowed. "I'm actually not sure. He'll probably want to see it. Did you have something in mind?"

She nodded. "I've been working on a project, it's actually what I was working on when you got here. It would only take a few tweaks to make it formal wear appropriate."

"Do I get to know what it is?" He asked.

She shook her head with a smile. "No, I want it to be a surprise."

"Can I at least get a hint?"

She thought, tapping her finger on her chin. "How about this for a hint. Think leather and lace."

His interest was immediately piqued, but he knew she wouldn't tell him more. "I'll let Nathalie know then, and you'll probably be getting an email soon."

"Good."

"Good."

"Good."

". . . so did come over for just that, or do you have time for me kick your butt in Ultimate Mech Stricke 3?"

He brightened. "I've got time, and I think you'll find that I've been practicing and am more of a challenge now."

She snorted, getting up and handing him a controller. "I should hope so. Last time was just abysmal."

"Hey!" he shouted, no real heat to his words as he settled in for the game. He imagined himself a few years older, with an aged up Marinette by his side, doing this same thing and it honestly didn't sound too bad to him. He'd take what he could get and he'd be happy with it. That's what he kept telling himself, anyway.

* * *

**Made you look! Bet you all thought she was going to be aged up by an akuma, didn't you? :P Seemed too easy so I tried to think outside the box. Mostly happy this time, with just a little seasoning of angst right at the end. Hope you enjoyed!**


	23. Fashion Show

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Today was a very good day for Adrien. He was dead, but it was a very good day. Why was he dead? Because Marinette Dupain-Cheng. They were walking up to the fashion show together and her arm was on his arm. Which was minorly brain-melting in and of itself, but not what was killing him. No. It was what she was wearing. Which was cat ears. And a freaking leather jacket! Also, a very cute pink lace skater dress. But it was 110% the cat ears and leather jacket that were killing him. Why did she have to be so cute? She was obliviously, lethally his type.

It had taken a lot to convince his father to let Marinette come as his plus one. His father had gone on and on about whether or not she would provide the right image for the company, and how doing this would only bring back the rumors, and a bunch of other stuff he'd barely paid attention to. Ultimately his arguments had boiled down to- his father already admitted that he liked Marinette's style when she won the hat competition and that Agreste's didn't back down from rumors.

He'd won. Barely, but Marinette was with him and that's what mattered.

Marinette leaned in close to whisper in his ear. "I didn't expect there to be this many people here this early."

He turned to whisper back to her. "A lot of them have been here since set up, hoping to catch sight of drama or cat-tastrophe."

She wrinkled her nose at him and he was pretty sure she would have stuck her tongue out at him if there hadn't been so many cameras. "The real cat-tastrophe here is that none of these people know what an awful punster you are."

He gave her his best serious face. "Because Agreste men are always serious."

She gave a snort, but managed to hold in most of her laughs as they made it inside the building where he escorted her all the way to her seat and lingered. "You look amazing in that outfit."

"You've said that about ten times now," she said, though a pleased blush filled her cheeks.

"Well I've meant it every time. I'm surprised that you talked my father into okaying the cat ears," he said, eyeing the adorable headpiece.

"He wanted me to wear heels to off put our height difference in photos, but I knew that if I was going to be walking from venue to venue, I would want flats, so I suggested wearing something on my head to make up for the height difference instead."

"And he went with that?"

"We compromised. My shoes have a one inch lift to them and the bun helps fill the space between the ears to create a more aesthetically appealing look," she admitted.

"Not to mention being lethally adorable," he said before he could stop himself.

Her face went bright red and she ducked her head. "Now your exaggerating."

He put a hand under her chin and lifted her face back up until their eyes met once more. "Agreste men are always serious."

She gaped up at him, at a complete loss for words. He had meant to play it cool and just stay friends, but now that he knew his own heart he couldn't hold back from lavishing her with every compliment he could think of. It was just like when he was with Ladybug. Except right now, there was no boop to his nose pushing him back as he leaned closer to those glossy pink lips-

"Mr. Agreste, you're needed back stage."

He bit his tongue to keep from cursing. Right, he was at a fashion show. With lots of people and lots of cameras. His father would murder him if he made a scene kissing Marinette here. Not to mention, he'd like for their first kiss to be somewhere more private.

"Mr. Agreste," the stylist called again.

If he was ever left alone long enough for that to happen, because apparently to universe hated him.

Marinette smiled up at him. "You better get going. I'll see you after."

"After," he agreed, turning to hop up onto the stage and walk towards the stylist who was smirking like they knew they'd just interrupted his moment.

"Come on, Casanova, you can hang out with your girlfriend later."

"Just a friend," he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets.

The stylist sensed to disgruntlement coming off the teen in waves and gave Adrien a sympathetic pat on his shoulder as they lead him behind the curtain. "Well maybe you can woo her with your amazing catwalk skills. Come on, fashion show first, not-girlfriends after."

There would be an after, she'd promised him, and Marinette kept her promises. He straightened, if she was going to be watching, then he was going to be giving his best performance yet. That's all there was to it.

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed. Let me know what you think ^_^**


	24. Bridal Style

**Have fun. This one feels borderline crack to me, but is necessary for. . . reasons you'll find out tomorrow, but also it made me laugh and so I'm posting it.**

**Quick shoutout to guest reviewer**

**HotelonBoardwalk- I'm glad you're liking my take on Adrinette April so far :) You're right that I probably made Plagg a little OoC when he was helping Adrien, but with the posting every day I kind of just have to run with whatever idea first comes to mind in order to stay on track. I do appreciate the feedback :)**

**I do not own Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

He'd barely taken three steps onto the stage before an akuma burst out from behind the curtain.

"I am Fabricator! I'll show you whose designs are tacky!" They plucked a spool of thread off their outfit and threw it at a random model. Adrien saw it coming in and threw himself between it and the other model. It exploded in a flurry of fabric leaving behind a new outfit of a formal attire suit, but the arms had been fused to the sides and the pant legs had been fused together.

A penguin suit, Adrien realized, but he didn't have time to admire the pun because Fabricator was now focused on him and Adrien was helplessly immobile.

"You! With an Agreste wearing my designs everyone is sure to finally see how brilliant I am!"

Adrien hopped backwards and promptly lost his balance, teetering off the stage. He closed his eyes as he prepared for impact.

His crash landing was interrupted however, by something soft, yet strong catching him. He opened his eyes to see a furious Marinette, glaring up at the akuma.

"Adrien is not a tool. He's a person, just like everyone else."

"Puh-lease, like you weren't using him like everyone else," Fabricator said with a toss of his hand.

Rather than responding she stood up, carrying Adrien bridal style and took off, weaving back and forth between the chairs to dodge and projectiles.

He had never seen anything more attractive than her in his life. He'd also never been more embarrassed in his life. He tried to wriggle free. "Let me go or you'll get caught."

She clutched him tighter, pulling him close to her chest, which under any other circumstance would have left him swooning. As it was, he was having a very difficult time focusing.

"Shut up and let me think," she snapped, not even bothering to look down at her guy in grief currently trapped in her arms.

They barreled through a door and she promptly dropped him to grab a fire extinguisher next to the door and slammed it against the doorknob to snap it off.

Adrien gaped. "Why did you-"

She ignored him, yanking him up off the floor to stand against the wall with her. Not a moment too soon, because Fabricator came bursting in, howling about how Marinette was stealing his chance at the spotlight. The second he was in the fire escape, she slipped back into the showroom, kicking the door shut behind her for good measure.

"Now he's stuck," was all the explanation she gave before scooping him up once more bridal style and running out of the room, Fabricator's shouts and door pounding fading into the distance. Everyone else, who hadn't been hobbled by a fabric bomb, seemed to have cleared out quickly because the rest of the building was eerily silent.

"just where are we going?" Adrien asked, giving in to the humiliation that Marinette simply wasn't going to put him down.

"You are you to hide in a closet, while I go find help," she told him, finally looking down to scowl.

"What? No, that's too dangerous!" Adrien protested.

She gave him an unimpressed looked. "And how are you going to stop me? Flop in my way?"

He huffed, she had a point, he was effectively useless as he currently was.

"Here we go," Marinette muttered, coming to a stop in front of a janitorial closet. There was a loud boom behind them and she winced. "I think Fabricator got the door open."

She opened the door and flung him inside.

"Wait, you should hide in here too. It's not safe out there!" Adrien cried.

"But it'll be a lot safer for you in there, if he's chasing me out here," she pointed out, shutting the door.

"Marinette, don't you dare-" It was too late. She was already gone.

Plagg popped up beside him, eyeing him up and down lazily. "You look stupid. Tell your father that his fashion sense is losing its edge."

"You know very well that this wasn't his design, now help me stand up so I can get that suicidal girl in here."

Plagg yawned and flexed his claws. "You know you should count yourself lucky that she didn't try to hide in here with you. It would have made it a lot more difficult to become someone who could actually help, rather than flop like a fish on the ground."

Adrien growled a few choice words under his breath about his Kwami.

"Heavens me! Do you kiss Marinette with that mouth? Oh wait, you don't!" he cackled, tumbling end over end through the air above his chosen.

"Plagg, claws out!" he snapped.

The cackling crapper was sucked into his ring and Adrien suddenly found himself able to move again as his clothes cocoon was replaced with his usual leather attire. Now to find the other leather wearing, cat eared teenager in attendance.

* * *

**I like Plagg being a crap. It's the best.**


	25. Protect

**Now the plot progresses! Hoe you enjoyed yesterdays crack, here's some fluff with a side of stubborn idiot.**

**Quick shout out to the guest reviewer_**

**Adrinetteshipper- I'm so glad you're enjoying my stories. It always makes me happy to hear that. ^_^ To answer your question about how I write, the answer is read a lot and write a lot. When you read something you like, ask yourself what was it that made you like it and try to copy that. I take a lot of inspiration from Shannon Hale, Gail Carson Levine, and Tamora Pierce (and obviously Miraculous Ladybug). Finding a friend who can help you edit really helps too, though that can take a lot of courage to let someone else read your work, so I understand if that's intimidating. Like with everything else, the more you do it, the better you get at it. The hardest thing, even for published authors, is seeing it through to the end. So persevere! You got this!**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

The akuma was gone and dealt with. Chat Noir gave a hasty fist bump to Ladybug before booking it back to the closet Marinette had dumped him in. He got there and released his transformation to find himself still in his penguin suit and was worried he'd have to explain why the Miraculous Cure had fixed everything but him, when a belated wash of ladybugs engulfed him and his original suit returned.

Just in time too, because Marinette came barreling into the room shortly after and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Are you okay?"

_Excuse me?_ "I'm fine. I didn't run around playing keep away with an akuma."

She scowled. "Someone had to protect your dumb self. At least I didn't jump in front of an akuma attack." She punched him in the arm. "Which you didn't even know the effects of. Anything could have happened to you!"

"I wasn't just going to stand by and do nothing," he argued. Man, his arm stung, though he guessed he shouldn't be surprised since she'd just displayed how freakishly strong she was by hauling him around like some damsel in distress.

"You should have cleared out so there would be less casualties for Ladybug and Chat Noir to deal with. Leave it to the professionals."

"I-" He grit his teeth together to stop himself from finishing the sentence of 'I am the professionals.' He'd gone this far without revealing his identity and he wasn't going to let a shouting match be his downfall. He took a deep breath and frowned at her. "That's pretty hypocritical coming from you. You should have just left me there and gone somewhere safe. I don't need you to protect me."

Marinette crossed her arms and snorted. "You're an idiot. Do you think I'd watch the love of my life take a hit like that and not come running? I don't think so!"

Adrien's brain screeched to a halt, all anger shocked out of him. "What did you just say?"

Marinette turned bright red and suddenly lost the ability to maintain eye contact. "I don't think so."

"No, before that."

"You're an idiot."

He gave a huff of frustration. "No, there was a middle part."

"Did you think I'd just watch you take a hit like that and not come running?"

"Pretty sure those weren't your exact words."

They stared each other down in a battle of wills before both blurting at the same time, "I like you!"

Adrien practically wilted in relief, slumping forward to rest his head on her shoulder. "Oh thank goodness, I'm not too late."

Marinette's hand came up to pat his head. "I'm sorry, what?"

He nuzzled into her neck, drawing strength from her sweet, cinnamon-y smell, and the fact that she didn't push him away. "When you confessed to me, it made me realize that I like you too, but you said you didn't have a crush on me anymore, so I thought I was too late to realize my feelings and you had already moved on."

Her hand began to gently card through his hair. "I never said I stopped liking you. I said I realized that you needed friends more than fans. When I was just trying to get you to notice me, I kind of acted like a spaz."

"You always act like a spaz," he said with a quiet chuckle.

She gave him a light smack upside the head. "Rude."

He pulled back so he could look her in the eye. "It's cute. I think you're cute, and while we're being honest here, I'd like to let you know that I find you unbearably adorable whenever you wear those cat ears. It just makes me want to. . ." He trailed off, eyes lowering to her lips.

Marinette stepped in close, tilting her head up. "Want to what?"

Slowly, giving her plenty of time to back out, his hand came up to cradle the back of her head. He lowered his head. She did not pull back, in fact, just before he reached her she stood up on tiptoe to meet him.

They weren't quite centered, but he found that the imperfection of it did not take from the joy. It was the most magical moment of his life. This was coming from the guy with a floating black cat who granted him superpowers, so he knew a thing or two about magic.

A small chuckle escaped him and Marinette pulled back, breaking the kiss. "Something funny?"

He shook his head, arms coming to wrap around her and pull her close once more. "More just shocked that this is actually happening. I was kind of preparing myself to live the rest of my life in the friendzone and then you just go and blow my mind."

She smiled before coming in to rest her head on his shoulder, her breath tickling his neck and sending shivers down his spine. "I get what you mean. I'm afraid to pinch myself, because I think I'll wake up."

Well he couldn't have that. He reached up and pinched her arm.

"Ouch! What was that for?" she asked as she gave his arm a whack.

"To prove you're not dreaming. I'm definitely for real kissing you right now."

She blushed, but didn't back down this time. "Well, you're not kissing me right _now_."

Adrien tutted, leaning down once more. "We can't have that, now can we?"

* * *

**And we all shout- "ABOUT FREAKING TIME!" Bet you thought I was going to make you wait until the very last day for them to get together? Well fear not, because these two dumb children have finally confessed, but don't worry, we still have a few days left in the month for me to cause drama for them. 3:)**


	26. Civilian Heroes

**Woohoo! They finally confessed and are together now, right! Right? Why would I ask that question?**

**Well, I guess we'll just have to read to find out!**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

"This is embarrassing and unnecessary," Marinette muttered, straightening Adrien's already perfectly straight tie for the fifth time

He caught her hands in his, pausing her fussing. "It can't be helped, you broke the internet after all."

"Excuse you, Mr. Jump-In-Front-Of-Akuma-Bombs, you are just as much to blame for our current situation as I am."

"But I didn't sweep teen heartthrob Adrien Agreste off his feet and waltz him out of the room like a blushing bride," Adrien teased.

"How did Alya even find enough footage of that event to make that video?"

Adrien shrugged. "A lot of people left their cameras behind when they took off running, the equipment was too heavy."

She groaned and almost dropped her head onto his shoulder, but remember last minute that he was wearing a dark suit and she was wearing makeup. That would only end badly for them both. Instead, she turned away from her temptation, pulling her hands out of his, as she began to pace the waiting area they were in while the mayor talked them up to a crowd of reporters.

"Civilian heroes. What does that even mean?"

"It means we are civilians and we acted heroically," Adrien said. She glanced over and could tell he was trying not to laugh at her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"But lots of other people have done stuff way more impressive than either of us and they didn't get awards."

"Yes, but _they_ didn't break the internet."

"That's not fair!" Marinette exclaimed.

Adrien raised his arms over his head in a stretch. "It's not. This isn't fairness, it's politics. Mayor Bourgeois is approaching reelection soon as he's using us to boost his ratings."

She raised an eye brow at him. "So you understand the finer nuances of politics, but can't tell that a girl stuttering means she likes you, not hates you?"

Adrien blushed. "My sample pool of 'real girls' for most of my childhood was Chloe. Subtle wasn't a forte of hers."

Marinette rolled her eyes at the understatement. "No, I suppose it was not. Ugh! I just feel so used now!"

He came over to give her a hug, taking care to mind her makeup-ed face. "If it matters, I think you're a real hero."

She smiled and returned the hug. "Thanks."

The Mayor's assistant stepped into the room and motioned them over. "We're almost ready for you."

They both approached the door to hear the end of the speech.

"- and so, to celebrate their great acts of heroism and keeping calm under pressure, I would like to bring out Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste to formally thank both of these civilian heroes on behalf of Paris."

The secretary motioned them forward and they stepped out in front of the crowd of reporters, cameras flashing to catch their every movement and facial expression. Adrien's model smile was there in full swing and Marinette did her best to imitate it. She was sure it looked more like someone had shoved a lemon wedge in her mouth. They shook hands with the Mayor and then he ushered them up to the podium. Marinette stood just behind Adrien, figuring he was the better trained for these situations out of the two

"We are honored to receive this award, but both feel like we only did what any other upstanding Parisian would do in the same situation. After all, it was the many wonderful examples of everyday heroism that inspired us to act."

The mayor stepped up, beaming down at the two of them. "Well put, Adrien my boy, are there any questions from the audience?"

The mayor pointed to one reporter with a raised hand who shouted. "Just what is your relationship with Ms. Dupain Cheng?"

The two glanced between each other. They actually hadn't discussed that in the seek since both of them had confessed. Adrien's father had been furious about his recklessness and grounded the boy and neither of them could get a moment alone with each other at school. The shared look only lasted for a moment before he leaned into the mic. "As has already been discussed in previous conversations, Marinette is just a friend."

That stung. She couldn't even focus on the rest of the questions as she focused on not crying at that statement. They were ushered off the stage and back into the same room for the mayor to give his closing remarks.

Once they were alone, Adrien turned to her. "Are you okay?"

She refused to look at him and nodded to the floor.

"Come on, Mari, that's clearly a lie," Adrien said, stepping closer to try and see her face.

"I'm fine, friend," she said the last word with a bit of venom on it and he suddenly understood why she was upset.

He took her shoulders and turned her to face him, waiting until she looked up at him. "Okay, first off, after everything my father did to get the paparazzi to drop it, I wasn't about to undo everything by saying anything else. More importantly, we haven't exactly had a chance to talk and the first person I'd like to say you're my girlfriend to is you, not a group of strangers."

Her mouth dropped open in an "O" and she was pretty sure her heart was about to spontaneously combust. Adrien was pink faced, but still maintaining a determined eye contact.

She cleared her throat to collect her thoughts. "So am I your girlfriend then?"

His grip on her shoulders tightened. "I'm not sure you want to be."

She raised an eyebrow. "I thought I made it pretty clear that I was definitely interested."

He sighed and let his arms fall back to his sides. "I just need to be completely honest with you about something first."

It was really hard to stop her brain from jumping to a million conclusions about what could be wrong with herself and how he was going to say it wasn't going to work out. She took a minute to reign her thoughts in before eyeing him with a guarded expression. "And what is it that you need to tell me?"

"I like you, Marinette. I really, really do. I want that to be perfectly clear, but there's this other girl. She's made it very clear that she doesn't like me in that way and I'm trying to get over her, but I just can't seem to turn my feelings off. I want to date you, but it doesn't seem fair when I also still have feelings for this other person." Adrien's words got faster and faster as he spoke, like he was trying to spill it all out before he rejected him.

Marinette stood there processing what he'd said. Huh, maybe they were more alike than she'd thought. Tikki had already gone through a similar conversation with her about her feelings for Adrien and Chat Noir and even Luka. She actually knew how to handle this one. "Well that's a relief." The words spilled out without her meaning to say them, but she meant it so she didn't try to take it back.

Adrien's face scrunched up in puzzlement. "I just admitted to liking another girl and you're relived over that?"

She held up a finger. "Let me clarify. I'm relieved that that's the problem. Also, I'm relieved that you can't just turn your emotions off. While it does mean that you still like this other person, it also means that I don't have to live in fear of you just one day turning off your feelings for me."

Adrien stared at her with a cautious hope. "So you're okay with all this?"

She bit her lip. "I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm a little hurt that I'm not the only one in your heart, but I also would be a hypocrite to demand that of you. I understand."

He blinked. "Wait, you like someone else too?"

She nodded, reaching down to her hip to touch her bag where Tikki lay. "A wise old woman I know said something to me- She told me that emotions are very important and we should pay attention to them, but remember that we can't always control them. What we can control is what we do with our emotions. In the end, it's our actions that are the deciding factor, so neither of us can control if we might have feelings for other people, but what we can control is if we chose to act on them."

Adrien's face was thoughtful as he contemplated what she'd said. "I'd like to meet this lady one day, she sounds very wise."

Crap. "Oh, um, she's very shy around strangers and can be kind of hard to get ahold of. I mean, we can try, but I'm not sure how it'll work out."

"Okay, but what about the original point of this discussion?"

She blinked, thrown off and trying to remember what they were talking about before her short panic attack. "Um, what?"

He reached out and gently grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers. "Marinette, will you be my girlfriend?"

She used their joined hands to pull him closer, chests almost touching. She felt giddy, it was almost whiplash inducing compared to the upset and depression she'd felt just minutes before when she thought he was rejecting her. This was worth it. Adrien was worth any trouble. "Yes."

They leaned towards each other, lips barely brushing as they felt their breaths mingle-

Adrien's phone went off and they jumped apart, red faced.

He pulled it out and answered. "This is Adrien."

Marinette couldn't make out what the other person was saying, but Adrien nodded.

"Yes, sir."

His face paled and he glanced over at Marinette.

"I'll have to ask her and then I'm sure she'll have to talk to her parents. May I call you back?"

Adrien nodded once more.

"Very well. I'll call Nathalie."

He hung up and turned to her apologetically. "Are you really sure you want to be my girlfriend?"

"I literally just said yes."

"Okay, my father wants you to come to dinner tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" she squeaked.

"Yup. Sure you still want to be part of this?"

"If by 'this' you mean involved in your life, then yes. Very much so." She stepped up and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, curling into him to rest her head on his chest. "We're a team now, got it?"

His arms came to wrap around her as well. "You got it, princess. This knight in shining armor is here for you."

That stirred something in Marinette, giving her a sense of déjà vu. Why did that feel so familiar?

* * *

**Okay, _now_ they are together. No tricks this time, I promise. Whew! This was a long one! Hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you tomorrow.**

** Any guesses as to what's going to happen at the dinner? (I'm serious, it's still in the works and I'm trying to finish it early)**

**I'll try to post early tomorrow because I'm going to go see End Game with some friends and that'll probably take 5 hours of my day, so you'll either get it really early or really late. Wish me luck with getting it done on time!**


	27. Marinette and the Agrestes

**I'm questioning if some of this is a little OoC, but I woke up two hours early to make sure I finished this and I'm not sure how much more I can do here time-wise. Also, I was planning on keeping this one short, but then I kept getting more ideas and now this long boi is here. Not my longest, but a thousand words a day is usually my max, so pardon me if I'm impressed with myself :P**

**Quick shout out the the guest reviewer-**

**Adrinetteshipper- You're welcome. Always happy to help a fellow writer out. Good luck to you! As for your guess on this chapter, things are revealed, but it's not what you think. :D**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

* * *

Adrien fidgeted with the hem of his suit. He wanted to mess with his tie, but his father had scolded him after the third time. It was hard not to fidget. He was an absolute ball of nerves at the thought of having dinner with his father and his newly minted girlfriend. His father still had yet to reveal _why_ exactly it was that he wanted Marinette to come to dinner. He hadn't bothered talking to her or Kagami during the entire "girlfriend" incident, so why was he wanting to meet with her _now_?

Nathalie tapped her iPad. "Who is it?"

A very familiar voice came over the iPad speaker. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I have a dinner appointment with the Agrestes."

Though everyone was standing there for the express purpose of waiting for Marinette, Nathalie still turned to his father to get permission before buzzing her in. Waiting for her to walk the long path to his house and for Gorilla to let her in. All of it was excruciating. And incredibly unnecessary. It was like his father was trying to intimidate her or something. Wait, was he?

Adrien couldn't ask though, because somehow in the midst of his internal screaming, Marinette had made it inside and was now standing in front of them in all her adorable, perfect, girlfriend-y glory. Tonight, she wore a midnight blue evening gown with a crisscross halter top and a slim, simple silhouette and a thin gold, embroidered band wrapping around her waist, pulling it closer to her slim figure. It made her look elegant and mature without going overboard and making her look like a child playing dress up. He really wanted to hold her in his arms and kiss her mouth. . .and probably her bare shoulders too.

She gave them both a small curtsy, "Good evening, Mr. Agreste, Adrien."

His father nodded in acknowledgement and came down the steps, his gaze calculating. Marinette stood perfectly still, though her gaze darted back and forth between Adrien and his approaching father. He couldn't give her any help because he also had no idea what his father was up to.

Gabriel raised his hand and twirled his finger in the air. "Spin, please."

Were they seriously doing a fashion review right now? Was his father capable of thinking of anything else? Marinette obliged, holding her arms slightly out from her sides as she made a slow circle, letting them see the dress from every angle. Adrien had to admit that the back view was almost as good as the front and found himself distracted from watching his father's micro expressions. So, when she came to face them again, he had no idea what the man was thinking.

His father hummed. "I take it the gold belt is your infamous hidden signature?"

She glanced down at it and gave a nervous smile. "Yes, sir."

He stared at it a bit longer and knew his father was forming a criticism. "Bit daring to make it the centerpiece instead of an embellishment this time."

"With a dress like this, to add it anywhere else wouldn't have made sense and would have detracted from the simplicity of the design." Marinette was taking it like a champ, Adrien guessed she'd already gotten practice from when she'd had to run her fashion show outfit past him. Still, Adrien was proud of her. Older, more seasoned designers had been rendered a stuttering mess from his father's stare before and Marinette was normally a stuttering mess on a good day. Though, he reminded himself, she apparently only stuttered when she liked someone. Here she was nervous, but still looked overall confident.

"You could have added it to the straps of the halter top, bringing the attention up to the wearer's face."

She nodded. "I could have, but I found the that the blue material didn't take as well to the embroidery and had a tendency to prune the fabric. Not to mention, embroidery tends to itch if it's rubbing directly on the skin and I didn't want to have to deal with that all night."

His father pressed his lips together, though Adrien struggled to tell if it was in amusement or disapproval. "You've surely heard the old adage 'beauty is pain' Ms. Dupain-Cheng?"

Marinette stick her nose up. "Whoever came up with that one clearly wasn't clever enough to think of a better alternative to whatever they were making."

Did his father just smile?! Adrien was pretty sure he just saw his father smile, over something his girlfriend had said no less. What was this day? "Emilie said something similar too once."

Marinette smiled softly. "Then I think I would have gotten along with her."

Gabriel stared down at her thoughtfully. "You just might have."

With that he turned and headed into the dining room. Adrien scurried down to stairs to Marinette as soon as his back was turned and offered her his arm. She took it, leaning in to whisper. "How am I doing?"

"Good. Very good. You look amazing by the way."

She blushed and gave his arm a light squeeze, it was then that he noticed she was shaking. "Thank you. That was nerve-wracking."

He didn't get a chance to whisper any more encouragements to her because they had reached the dining room and his father stood at the head of the table, watching them. Adrien escorted her over to the chair to the left of his father and pulled out her chair for her sit before going and taking the seat on the opposite side of the table directly to the right of his father.

All sat stalk still and silent while the chef brought out the first course, a roasted tomato and basil soup. She reached for the correct spoon without any hints from Adrien and he figured it must have been one of the things she had been panic studying when she'd been frantically scrolling through her phone yesterday. He smiled at the memory and took a big bite of the soup.

"So, Ms. Dupain-Cheng, how long have you been dating my son?"

Adrien choked.

Marinette had already swallowed so she held it together a little better, but she set her spoon down just in case anyway. "We're just over twenty-four hours at this point."

His father frowned. "Ms. Dupain-Cheng, I do not appreciate being lied to. I have been courteous enough to help hide your relationship from the media for these past few months and would appreciate a real answer."

"I asked her out literally yesterday," Adrien rasped, throat now sore from inhaling hot soup.

Gabriel gave his son an unimpressed look. "I just said this joke isn't funny. I'm well aware that Ms. Dupain-Cheng has liked you for several years now and I've also been aware of your sudden reciprocation of them this year."

Adrien's face was on fire. Marinette's was redder than the tomato soup. "Well, there goes my theory that obliviousness is a family trait."

"I beg your pardon?" His father said, visibly offended.

She held up her hands. "I think I need to explain the timeline to you."

Gabriel pressed his lips together, this time clearly from annoyance, but waved his hand for her to proceed.

"Earlier this year we had a conversation where it was clarified that Adrien was under the impression that my actions of the past couple years were all the result of my holding a very long grudge over a misunderstanding that occurred his first day of public school."

His father turned to give him a stare that Adrien could only interpret as "Are you that dense?"

"It seemed like a logical conclusion at the time," he muttered, slipping down in his seat. Screw posture, this was mortifying.

Marinette smiled at him, but continued on. "After I assured him that this was not the case, we both agreed to try the friendship thing over again with a reset button now that the air had been cleared between us."

"And you expect me to believe that all of both your actions have been that of a purely platonic friend?" his father asked dryly.

"I wasn't even aware that I liked Marinette until about almost two months ago!" Adrien moaned, wishing he could crawl under the table and disappear.

"You weren't _aware_. . ."

"I think it's been made abundantly clear that Adrien doesn't do feelings very well," Marinette said, copying Gabriel's same dry tone from earlier.

"But surely once he realized his feelings, he confessed to you."

He silently prayed that Plagg would go and cataclysm the floor so he'd have a hole to fall through. "I thought she didn't have a crush on me anymore."

"Anymore? So you did realize her feelings for you eventually."

"Only because I told him."

Was she enjoying this? He thought he saw her mouth twitch in an attempt to keep a smile off her perfectly straight face.

His father on the other hand, pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let me get this straight- You confessed to my son and he interpreted it to mean that you no longer like him in a romantic fashion?"

Adrien let out a non-verbal whine and this time Marinette did laugh. "To be fair, that time it was an easy misunderstanding. I admitted that some of my antics from the past were because I liked him, but I wasn't doing them anymore, so he assumed that meant that I no longer liked him."

Gabriel removed his hand from where it was pinching the bridge of his nose and brought it down to steeple with his other hand turning to his son. "Then at what point exactly was it that you discovered that Ms. Dupain-Cheng still had affection for you?"

Adrien refused to make eye contact with anyone. Seriously, he would give Plagg a lifetime of cheese to cataclysm him out of this situation right now, but he knew the little crapper wouldn't. He could feel the tiny god shaking with laughter in his coat pocket. "When she screamed it in my face after the fashion show incident."

"She screamed it at you," his father said flatly.

"He was yelling at me that I was being stupid for making sure he was safe and it kind of slipped out in the heat of the moment," Marinette said defensively, perhaps misinterpreting his father's tone to mean he disapproved of her actions.

"So, you've actually been dating for about a week then," His father said, reminding them all of the original question.

Marinette shook her head. "We barely had enough time to confess that we like each other before staff members found us and took Adrien backstage to finish the fashion show."

Adrien smirked, a bit of confidence coming back. This was technically false. There was plenty of time where either of them could have asked the other out, but their mouths were otherwise occupied. They'd barely managed to get off each other when they'd heard people coming down the hallway shouting their names.

Adrien picked up the story. "After that, we didn't have a chance to talk alone until yesterday at the press conference."

"I'm assuming after the press conference, then?"

Both teens blinked, but it was Adrien who answered. "Yes, how did you know?"

"Ms. Dupain-Cheng's visible distress over being called 'just a friend' suddenly makes sense."

Marinette went scarlet.

Adrien, however, had a realization. "What made you think that Marinette and I were dating in the first place?"

Gabriel turned and raised an eyebrow at his son. "One does not buy two hundred euro jewelry for 'just a friend.' At least, socially aware people don't, which I am now realizing might not apply to you. It was a logical conclusion to make at the time."

Marinette choked. "Hang on, that headband cost _how much_?"

Nathalie probably snitched on him, because he doubted his father ever checked Adrien's debit card purchases personally. "I just saw it and thought she'd look good wearing it, and it wasn't a necklace or a ring which is what everyone says would be a gift to someone you like, so I thought it was fine," Adrien said weakly.

Marinette was having a different melt down. "I specifically remember having an argument with you the week before where I told you not to go above twenty euros and you talked me up to fifty. Two hundred is way above either of those numbers!"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I had kind of already bought it when you told me that."

Her hands reached across the table like she wanted to strangle him. Thankfully though, she remained seated which kept him out of reach.

Gabriel cleared his throat, reminding them both that he was still there. "You two have truly only dating twenty-four hours?"

Marinette checked her phone. Where had she pulled that from? Did her dress have secret pockets? Knowing her, the answer was probably. "We are technically almost to twenty-eight hours, but yes."

His father held out his hand to her. "Then I would like to formally welcome you as Adrien's girlfriend."

She took it, blushing as she shook his hand. "Thank you. I look forward to being with your son."

He nodded and turned to Adrien giving him a clap on the shoulder. "I don't think anyone else would be willing to put up with even half the nonsense you've done. Don't let her get away."

Well now they were both scarlet, but Adrien turned to look Marinette in the eye as he said, "I wasn't planning on it."

"Ahem."

All three turned to see that the chef had returned.

"The second course is ready, sir."

Marinette and the Agrestes got through the rest of dinner with far less drama than the first course. Gabriel remained quiet for the rest of the evening, and Marinette and Adrien were now both too embarrassed to speak much either. However, they did discover that while Marinette's arms had been too short to reach across the table, her legs were not too short to meet Adrien halfway _under_ the table.

* * *

**In my head, Gabriel was initially inviting her over to lecture them both on being more discreet about their relationship and perhaps test Marinette by offering her an internship in exchange for dumping his son, but then he found out how ridiculous the two of them are and realized she'd probably already been tested enough by Adrien's own obliviousness.**

**Hope you all enjoyed!**

**Now I'm off to End Game. PEACE!**


	28. Adrien Dupain-Cheng

**Glad you all enjoyed the last chapter. We're getting really close to the end of all of this. It's moved so fast for me, I'm a little sad that it's coming to an end, but we're not at the end yet, so let's keep going!**

**Quick shout out to the guest reviewer from yesterday-**

**Guest- Wow. Thank you for the info! That's cool to know and makes sense. If it was hard to breath in the helmet you'd have people passing out everywhere from cardio with low oxygen. :P**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

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After the roller coaster weekend with the interview on Saturday and the disastrous dinner on Sunday, Adrien and Marinette knew that they still had one last hurdle to overcome before officially becoming a couple- Telling their friends.

Their game plan was to tell Alya and Nino together during lunch. After school, Adrien would go home with Chloe and tell her by himself. Everyone else would find out after. It was perhaps the simplest plan he'd ever heard from Marinette, though he was pretty sure that the 'tell everyone else after' part came with a part two he had not yet been told about.

They greeted their friends that morning having arrived separately (though Marinette was suspiciously early according to Alya) and he resisted the urge to kiss her in front of everyone. They went to class together, because Adrien wasn't sure how long he could resist keeping his hands off his girlfriend without a desk between the two of them.

They chatted idly about their weekend, with Alya grilling them with question from the press conference asking about what it was like to stand up in front of such a large group and how did they handle the pressure? Adrien played it off saying he'd had experience as a model, but really he'd had more experience as Chat Noir when it came to dealing with the press, but Alya never needed to know that.

When Alya turned to begin grilling Marinette, Adrien pulled out his homework and began to doodle in the margins, needing something to do with his nervous energy. He wasn't even thinking as his hand scrawled across the page until Nino gave an alarmed, "Dude!"

Alya was alerted by this and leaned forward to see what had alerted her boyfriend and immediately snatched up his homework, eyebrows raising ever higher the longer she stared at it. Adrien's face was on fire now.

Alya set the paper down facedown. "Something you'd like to share with the group, Agreste?"

"Um. Can we talk about it at lunch?" Adrien pleaded. The plan! They had a plan! Stick to the plan!

"Nope. You will tell me right now or I'm taping your homework to the white board for everyone to see."

He whined and looked to Marinette for help. She looked confused, so he assumed she hadn't seen the paper before Alya snatched it.

Alya caught the look and narrowed her eyes at Marinette. "Do _you_ have something you'd like to share with the group?"

Marinette shook her head so hard her pigtails whipped in her face. "Nope. Nothing to say here. You know, lunch time really is the best time for sharing information. Your brains are more open after all that learning from earlier on in the day and any shocking news given is less likely to be taken poorly when eating food you like. You know, you should both, I mean- all three of you should definitely coming over to my house for lunch today. It would be the best strategic place to have important conversations, if hypothetically, important conversations were to be had."

The reporter looked slowly between the two of them. "Alright, I gave you both a chance to come clean." She took a deep breath and shouted while holding up Adrien's homework for all to see, "Would either of you like to explain to me then why Adrien's homework is covered in hearts and the words 'Adrien Dupain-Cheng'?"

"Because they're dating, duh. Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous."

By now the class room was largely full and every pair of eyes in the room turned to look at Chloe who was staring at them like they were all idiots. Which was nothing new, but the context was certainly shocking.

"Wait. You knew?" Marinette shrieked.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "No one knows my Adrikins better than me. You two have been dating since before the whole Kagami mix-up."

Adrien ran his hands through his hair. No point in denying it now, though he should probably clear the air before Alya murdered them, thinking they'd kept it secret that long. "I wish. We've only been dating the last two days."

Chloe looked slowly back and forth between Adrien and Marinette before sighing and bringing a hand dramatically to her forehead. "You two idiots deserve each other."

A squee filled the whole room and they all turned to look at Rose who had her hands fisted and pulled up under her chin as she visibly vibrated with excitement. "Adrinette. It's really Adrientte!"

"Adrinette?" Marinette asked, turning to Alya.

"Yours and Adrien's ship name. I'm been floating around on the internet for a while now."

"How am I only hearing about this now?!" Both Adrien and Marinette demanded.

Alya shrugged. "We all agreed that it wouldn't be helpful for you guys to find out about it, so we kept it secret."

"Now LadyNoir just needs to happen and I can die happy," Rose said, still squealing.

"The ship name for Ladybug and Chat Noir," Alya supplied.

Marinette nodded. "Yeah, I've hung out with you long enough to know that one. Also, I hate to break it to you, but I don't think LadyNoir will ever happen." Especially since she was Ladybug and dating Adrien definitely meant she couldn't date Chat Noir.

"Yeah, I'm going to agree with Marinette. That's not gonna happen," Adrien said.

Marinette turned and frowned at him. "I thought you were one of the biggest believers in LadyNoir?"

He went pink and looked away. "I just feel like Chat Noir has been acting differently lately and I think the guy finally moved on."

He was right, Chat Noir had been treating her differently for the last couple of months. In fact, it almost perfectly lined up with when a different blond boy started treating her differently out of the mask. That was just a coincidence, right?

Before she could have a chance to really think about it, her friends stole her attention once more and demanded to know the whole story of just how they got together.

They got the abridged version that started just last week because that was all they had time for before their teacher arrived. Still, Marinette couldn't shake the feeling that there was a puzzle in front of her that she was just a few pieces short of completing.

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**So now everyone knows everything and all is well and done! But wait, don't we have two days left? I'm pretty sure you all know where this is going XD**


	29. Bien Joue

**Oh gosh, I did not mean to be this late. I didn't even have time for a spell edit or to look at reviews. So sorry guys! Hope you like it!**

**I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.**

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Marinette growled at the last problem on her physics homework. Adrien put a hand on her shoulder.

"You got this, just calm down and think it through."

She bit her lip and scribbled across the page, holding it out to him. "Done! Did I get it right?"

He went through, looking at each problem before putting it down, beaming. "You got it, Mari good job!"

She squeed and thrust out her fist without thinking "Bein Joue!"

He fistbumped back automatically.

They both froze, staring at each other wide-eyed.

"No. Way," Marinette whispered as the puzzle pieces finally started falling into place.

Adrien pulled his hand back and used it to rub his neck. "Ahha. . . so good job. Um, yeah."

"Shhh," Marinette said, bringing her hands up to cover his eyes, she needed to test out a theory.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I need you to say 'cataclysm' for me."

His laugh was nervous and high pitched. "Why would you want me to say that?"

"Refusal to say it will be taken as confirmation of my suspicions," Marinette warned.

She watched his lips purse, clearly weighing his options before finally mumbling, "Cataclysm."

He couldn't see her nod, but she nodded all the same. "Chloe was right, we're two idiots who deserve each other."

He sputtered at that, but she cut him off, grabbing his hands and putting them over her eyes now.

"Miraculous Ladybug." Her voice sounded far calmer than she felt. Her hands trembled with her anxiety.

His hands were completely still on her face, but she heard his sharp intake of breath and then his whisper, "You're freaking kidding me."

"So, while I can't see your face and panic over what I think is happening, I'd like to make a confession."

"And what is that?"

Her heart was pounding and her palms had begun to sweat. "I told you a while back that there was someone else I also liked, right? Well, I just thought you should know that the person was Chat Noir."

His hands still hadn't moved, and she let out a small squeak of surprise when she suddenly found her mouth enveloped in his. She quickly melted into the kiss, arms coming up to pull him closer as his left her face to do the same. His movements were quick, almost fevered in their need to touch and confirm, that this was indeed who he thought it was in his arms.

They pulled back with gasping breaths and his eyes sparkled. "I have a confession to make too. The other girl that I like is Ladybug."

Her hand shook with her happy sobs as she reached up to touch his face. "Kitty."

He gave her one more kiss, this one sweet and slow before pulling back to whisper reverently against her lips, "My lady."

Adrien leaned down to kiss her once more. Marinette barely registered something small and black flying past her peripheral before a reedy voice shouted, "Finally! Do you have any idea how stuffy it is in that shirt pocket?"

Both whipped around to see a familiar, floating black cat.

"Nice to see you again, Plagg," Marinette said, while Adrien shot the tiny god a non-verbal death threat with his eyes.

A whirl of red came out from Marinette's loft bed and crashed into Plagg. "Please forgive him, he has no manners. I'm Tikki, we'll be properly introduced later. For now, I'll take this naughty cat up on the balcony and you can come get us whenever you're done talking."

Just as quickly as she arrived, she was gone again, hauling Plagg off by his ear. Leaving the two of them actually alone for the first time since they'd met.

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**Only one left! We can do this!**


	30. Us Against The World

**Okay. Here we go.**

**Real quick shout out to all the guest reviewers from yesterday and today-**

**KrisKrat(Ch28)- Glad to make your night. Hope this one is good as well!**

**GGuest (Ch28)- Not rude at all, I get what you mean. I'm gonna miss this fic too once it's done. It's been a lot of fun to write.**

**Guest(Ch28)- You're very welcome XD Thank _you_ for reading it!**

**Guest(Ch29)- And this month I got a lot of practice in. I still think the slower pace, where I have more time for edits is prefered, but it certainly was fun to try something different!**

**Adrinetteshipper(Ch29)- Alya's dreams have come true, but when does Alya get to know that? The world may never know.**

**I do not own anything Mirculous Ladybug.**

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They stared at each other in shocked silence.

"So, um. . . That happened," Adrien said.

Marinette let out a nervous giggle. "Is Plagg always like that, or is it just when I'm around?"

"Oh, he's always like that," he assured her.

"He's just so. . .different from Tikki."

That piqued Adrien's interest. "What is Tikki like?"

"She's very supportive and polite. Cookies are her favorite."

"Lucky! All Plagg will eat is cheese."

Marinette frowned. "So wait, do you not like cheese then?"

He shrugged. "It's fine, I guess. I mostly eat it so people won't get suspicious of why I smell like cheese all the time. Plagg's incessant eating of it has kinda thrown me off it."

Marinette's groaned and buried her face in her hands. "I've been giving you sandwiches with camembert in them."

He laughed and pulled her in for a hug. "And Plagg's loved them. It's his favorite."

She let out a small whine and banged her face against his shoulder. "I should have known it wasn't actually your favorite. I can't believe I didn't see that."

He nuzzled her hair, pretty sure he could feel the heat radiating off her face from her blush. "How were you supposed to know that it was the tiny god in my pocket eating all that cheese and not me?"

"Considering that I have a tiny god of my own in my purse, I feel like I should have caught onto that sooner."

"Yeah, I'm assuming she eats cookies?"

"How did you guess?"

"Because nobody could pack away as many as you supposedly eat and not gain weight."

She pulled back to punch him lightly in the shoulder. "Rude. And I'll have you know that rooftop hopping is an excellent way to burn off calories. You should know, you eat twice as many as I ever have."

He smiled, reaching out to cup her cheeks. "This is really real right? I'm not dreaming?"

She reached out and pinched his arm.

"Ow!"

She smiled impishly. "You asked if you were dreaming."

"And I did do the same to you when we confessed in the closet," he grumbled before his wonderment took over once more. "Can I hear you say it?"

Marinette didn't have to ask to know what he was asking for. She reached up and wrapped her hand around one of his that was still cupping her cheek, before pulling it back and stepping away. She held up a finger and left him there while she foraged in her closet, leaving him to simply stand there bemused, but enjoying the view. She came back holding a very familiar umbrella and held it out to him. "Let's start over again. Hi, I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng, also known as Ladybug."

He had déjà vu to all those months ago during lunch when she'd done the same action. "Nice to meet you. I'm Adrien Agreste, also known as Chat Noir."

"Nice to meet you Adriene Chat Noir Agreste. I really like you."

He took the umbrella and set it gently on the ground. Then he took her hand in his and dropped down on one knee. "I really like you too. Marinette Ladybug Dupain-Cheng, would you be my girlfriend?"

"I already told you yes."

"You told Adrien Agreste that you'd date him, not Adrien Chat Noir Agreste."

She rolled her eyes and pulled him up. "You're the same person, just with a longer name, you dork."

He used their still connected hands to pull her close once more. "And you, my lady, don't change a bit either."

"So what does change then?"

He shrugged. "What do you want to change?"

She frowned as she thought. "For now, nothing."

"Nothing, nothing?" Adrien asked.

Marinette nodded. "Nothing, nothing, and yes, I am including Ladybug and Chat Noir remaining single."

"But you just said-"

"I know we just agreed that we're the same people. We know that. Everybody else doesn't, but if Ladybug and Chat Noir start dating immediately after Marinette and Adrien get together, don't you think that might get just a little bit suspicious?"

"I guess," Adrien grumbled.

She bit her lip and Adrien knew that face. It was the face she made when she started to panic. "Now that we know, that could make things a lot more dangerous. There's a lot at stake. We can't mess up."

He pulled her in for a hug and rubbed circles on her back. "Hey. Hey. Easy there. We'll handle it the way we always do. Together."

She wrapped her arms around him, holding him so close that he could feel her rapidly beating heart. "Promise?"

"Promise. It's us against the world."

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***falls over dead* I did it! One chapter every day for a whole month! Hope you all enjoyed. Thank you all so much for reading! I don't think I'll be participating in Marichat May. I've neglected my other works and it really is time to start wrapping up Miraculous Question.**

**Once again, a huge thank you for coming and reading! It really does mean a lot to me.**


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